Activision Blizzard declines to voluntarily recognize labor union

Gaming developer and publisher Activision Blizzard has made headlines in recent weeks as it agreed to a deal that would see it acquired by Microsoft.

However, the thoughts of games being exclusively available on the Xbox have not detracted from the serious issues at Activision Blizzard. Over the past six months, the company has faced allegations of enabling sexual misconduct, harassment, and a toxic culture.

The company has now refused workers the right to unionize to protect themselves from such issues.

The union, called the Game Workers Alliance (GWA), was set up by a group of 34 workers at a subsidiary of Activision Blizzard called Raven Software. Raven Software has worked on some of Activision Blizzard’s titles in recent years including Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War and Call of Duty: Warzone.

According to The Washington Post, members of the union asked managers to formally recognize it. However, Activision Blizzard was unmoved.

What did Activision Blizzard say?

Polygon shared the statement issued by Activision Blizzard about why it was not recognizing the union: “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.”

The spokesperson added that it valued “a direct relationship between managers and team members [that] allows us to quickly respond and deliver the strongest results and opportunities for employees.”

However, given Activision Blizzard’s history of not acting on HR complaints that have now led to legal disputes, some will be unsatisfied with a response that boasts about improvements in workplace compensation.

In response to the statement, the GWA, claims to have a supermajority in their quality and assurance (QA) department (meaning all members of the team support the union) and intends to file a formal petition with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB).

If the NLRB supports the union, Raven Software will legally have to talk to the union despite not recognizing it presently.

Alongside Activision Blizzard’s response has been a reshuffle of how QA staff are organized.

In response, the Communications Workers of America (CWA) who are assisting GWA informed The Washington Post that it viewed this move as “nothing more than a tactic to thwart Raven QA workers who are exercising their right to organize.”

Will the situation at Activision Blizzard change?

With Microsoft finalizing a deal to acquire Activision Blizzard in the fiscal year of 2023, many have wondered if the HR policies within the gaming company will change.

There has been conjecture that CEO of Activision Blizzard Bobby Kotick will step down, but at the moment it is unclear exactly what will change.

Speaking about the plans, Phil Spencer. who will become the head of Microsoft Gaming when this deal is complete, said: “Microsoft is committed to our journey for inclusion in every aspect of gaming, among both employees and players.

“We deeply value individual studio cultures. We also believe that creative success and autonomy go hand-in-hand with treating every person with dignity and respect.

“We hold all teams, and all leaders, to this commitment. We’re looking forward to extending our culture of proactive inclusion to the great teams across Activision Blizzard.”

Activision Blizzard has yet to respond to UNLEASH’s request for comment.