There's a specific process: https://www.gov.uk/redundancy-your-rights/consultation - plenty of opportunities for disputes to arise. We can trust the union will want to make a fuss, and Google will want the opposite, but the article is a bit light on details.

I can't imagine many development staff would be in a union? - though maybe some are. And even if not, some might be sympathetic if Google are being a bit careless about their legal obligations to the people being made redundant.