Testers for Call of Duty: Warzone Want a Union, But Activision Blizzard Isn’t Making it Easy
A while back, Activision Blizzard pulled a funny little trick on some Raven Software employees. The employees didn’t like that one bit. After some internal drama, 34 QA employees decided to form a union. Calling themselves the Game Workers Alliance (GWA) and allying with the already-established Communication Workers of America (CWA), they sought recognition from Activision Blizzard to begin negotiations. Activision Blizzard had until Tuesday to do exactly that – a deadline that has since passed.
Because of this, the GWA will have to file for election with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB). This’ll give the GWA the same result, but the process it a bit harder on them. The vote won’t just go through the GWA’s 34 members – it’ll need majority support from Raven Software’s 350+ employees. The GWA claims to have that support already, and we’ll soon see just how solidified those numbers are.
In a statement to PCGamer, a representative of Activision Blizzard had this to say: “At Activision Blizzard, we deeply respect the rights of all employees to make their own decisions about whether or not to join a union. We carefully reviewed and considered the CWA initial request last week and tried to find a mutually acceptable solution with the CWA that would have led to an expedited election process. Unfortunately, the parties could not reach an agreement.”