Activision Blizzard has been in the news for all the wrong reasons recently. As everything has unfolded, Microsoft now supports the idea of an Activision Blizzard union by saying they won’t stand in the way of the workers that want to unionize. The news of a union comes after several lawsuits and bad publicity surrounding employee welfare that has hit the company like a tonne of bricks, and rightly so, but it has now left current staff members desperate to protect themselves in the future.
Details of Microsoft’s support of the possible Activision Blizzard Union
A spokesperson from Microsoft recently spoke out by saying, “Microsoft supports and respects the possibility of an Activision Blizzard union, it is the employee’s right to choose whether they want to be represented by a labor organization.” The company was replying to a letter that was sent to Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella from a group of Activision Blizzard workers. What were the details of this letter, you ask? The employees wanted to know if they had approved or opposed the unionization idea. With Microsoft looking like being on the brink of buying the publisher, they will effectively have the final say on proceedings.
This news comes as QA workers at Raven (a subsidiary of Activision Blizzard) look to create a union under the Gamer Workers Alliance (GWA) banner, even after the recent news, and what Raven describes as an “attempt to thwart their efforts” by their parent company.
Even though Microsoft won’t stop any attempts of unionization attempts and does support the workers’ rights to explore this option, the company has not outlined any of the discussions that have taken place already with Activision Blizzard. As with all union attempts, there are a lot of details to talk about and some binding agreements to be made, but it certainly won’t be the last time you about this.
