Current Events > 600 Activision QA workers unionize, Microsoft voluntarily recognizes

(+) Yeah! (+)

This will be the largest video game union in the country yet

https://www.polygon.com/24093254/activision-qa-600-workers-union-microsoft

Hundreds of Activision quality assurance workers are unionizing with the Communications Workers of America (CWA). The union covers approximately 600 Activision central QA workers across three locations: Austin, Texas; Eden Prairie, Minn.; and El Segundo, Calif. This makes the union, called Activision Quality Assurance United - CWA, the largest group of unionized video game workers in the U.S.

The Blizzard Albany and Raven Software unions were brought under Microsoft with the companys $68.7 billion Activision Blizzard merger. Previously, ZeniMax Workers United was the largest group of video game industry QA workers at Microsoft and across companies in the U.S. with more than 300 workers.

Like the organizing efforts at ZeniMax, Activision QA workers reportedly did not face the union-busting tactics that were alleged to have occurred during Blizzard Albany and Raven Softwares union campaigns. Thats because Microsoft signed a labor neutrality agreement with CWA in 2022, which is basically a contract that says Microsoft must stay neutral in all union interactions. Agreements like this are not common, Risa Lieberwitz, professor of Labor Law and Employment Law at Cornells School of Industrial Labor and Relations and academic director for IRLs The Worker Institute, told Polygon in 2023 after ZeniMaxs union win.

Now under Microsoft with the neutrality agreement they signed with CWA, its a lot easier, Fannon said. We dont have to be concerned about any form of union-busting tactics. Microsoft made sure all managers were trained on neutrality. We knew that if we encountered union busting, we could bring it up so its addressed.

Fannon also pointed to better career development opportunities, increased benefits, and job security. Layoffs have created a major crisis for video game industry workers for the past couple years, and Activisions QA workers are thinking about their futures, too; better severance packages are important. A union cant always prevent layoffs, but it does empower workers to negotiate for their futures; in February, Sega of Americas union workers were able to save 18 jobs and negotiate better severance for those who were laid off. At Microsoft, ZeniMax QA union members were spared from a massive 1,900-person layoff in January. While union status may not have been a factor, some union members think it was.

Good.

They need to do something, because this cannibalism of the gaming industry through its feast and famine cycles is disastrous. So many people lost their jobs, just to keep people with more money than brain cells happy. Fuck shareholders, man.

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/forum/1/1176b766.jpg

But Microsoft is evil incarnate, right guys?

Good stuff!

voldothegr8 posted...

But Microsoft is evil incarnate, right guys?

They are

voldothegr8 posted...

But Microsoft is evil incarnate, right guys?

Corporations aren't the good guy. There is no need to simp for them.

Alucard188 posted...

Corporations aren't the good guy. There is no need to simp for them.

But I was told Microsoft will collapse the entire gaming economy

I thought this merger was supposed to be bad for gaming

every job should have a union

Im sure Microsofts first reaction was, QA, whats that?

voldothegr8 posted...

But I was told Microsoft will collapse the entire gaming economy

dem boots taste good comrade?

voldothegr8 posted...

But I was told Microsoft will collapse the entire gaming economy

Nah, you weren't. You were however correctly informed that Microsoft, like all other corporations, is fucking awful.