Activision Blizzard refuses to recognize Raven Software Alliance, files petition with NLRB

Recently, Raven Software’s Quality Assurance team formed the Game Workers Union and asked its parent company, Activision Blizzard, recognize the union. The deadline for this recognition has come and gone, and Activision Blizzard refused to recognize the union on its terms, forcing the GWA to take its petition to the National Labor Relations Board.

This situation first started when Call of Duty developer Raven Software laid off a dozen temporary workers just before the holiday season, prompting a group of employees from across Raven Software and Activision Blizzard King to strike in solidarity. The strike lasted nearly two months, with minimal recognition from ABK, and ended with Raven QA forming the Game Workers Union.

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With the establishment of the union, Raven and ABK employees have ended their strike, waiting for Activision Blizzard to recognize the newly formed alliance. However, Activision Blizzard allowed the recognition deadline to pass, only to later state in a statement that it was “unable to reach an agreement” with GWA and the US Media Workers – the largest media union. in the United States, which the GWA will be affiliated with, invites it to bring its petition to the NLRB to force an election. It was done as such, which means that the fate of the fledgling union is now in the hands of the NLRB.

We hope that the union will move forward with filing a petition with the NLRB to hold an election. If filed, the company will give an official response to the petition immediately. It is most important to the company that every eligible employee has the opportunity to have their voice heard and have their individual vote counted, and we think all employees at Raven should have a voice. stated in this decision.

This story is still strange. After weeks of silence from Activision’s token save statements, Raven Software suddenly announced a drastic change in its prominent QA department the day before the accreditation deadline; instead of Raven QA being a separate entity, the QA specialists would be embedded in specific groups, which means that the art QA would belong to the art group, the sound has the sound, etc. Let’s say, the organization This comeback is to streamline the production of its projects – a sentiment endorsed by other game developers, many of whom have studios with embedded QA staff – but the former Blizzard engineer QA, union activist and A Better ABK founder Jessica Gonzalez can’t help but sense an ulterior, union-undermining motive from the decision.

Only Activision Blizzard knows why it refuses to identify game workers union quickly, privately, and chose to take this information to the next level instead. Most assumed that ABK believed the 34-person union would not have enough weight as a bargaining chip, and hoped the NLRB would deny its application because of it. It’s possible that Activision is hoping to delay the consolidation efforts of its QA department by splitting it up and hoping it can meet its requirements through other means while avoiding federal recognition. labor — or at least delay it until Microsoft can intervene after the takeover. complete.

However, the Game Workers Union was not deterred by Activision’s efforts to outlast. Supported by Better ABK and its still growing $377,000 strike fund, the fledgling alliance is poised to keep fighting until it can be recognized as the first at a publicly traded video game publisher, even if that means multiple battles. strike and demand more.

THAN: Microsoft’s acquisition of Activision Blizzard is good news for smaller ABK Studios

The source: Wowhead

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