- The layoffs of several QA workers at Raven Software has caused Activision Blizzard workers to revolt
- Fearing that the leadership is not working with their best interest in mind, the workers are planning to unionize
- Activision Blizzard has warned its employees that this move is a double-edged blade and has instead invited them to the negotiations table
Just a day after Activision Blizzard’s workers announced that they might form a workers’ alliance, the company issued a response, dissuading its employees from unionizing.
Activision Blizzard Has Addressed the Mater
Activision Blizzard has responded to its employees’ unionization efforts with a staff email. The response came just a day after the workers announced their intentions of forming a workers union.
The one addressing the employees was the company’s Call of Duty Endowment executive, Brian Bulatao. He began by reminding the employees that Activision Blizzard is required to support each employee’s decision of whether to unionize or not.
Still, Bulatao tried to convince the employees to reconsider their decision. He reminded that the legal documents that the Communications Workers of America has offered would bind the employees which may backfire since it will give all their bargaining power to the CWA.
Bulatao explained that active and transparent dialogue between the company’s higher-ups and the employees would be a better path to achieving concord than to have the employees forfeit their rights to the CWA via an electronic form.
Unionizing May Be the Only Way to Go, According to Powell
The current situation was caused by the sudden dismissal of several quality assurance workers from the Raven Software studio. Considering Blizzard’s revenues, the employees felt that the layoffs were completely unjustified and revolted against their leadership.
The disgruntlement led employees to launch a crowdfunding campaign to help them strike without using their paid leave.
Around this time the Activision Blizzard Workers Alliance announced its intentions of forming a workers union. Valentine Powell, one of the lead user interface engineers for World of Warcraft, explained that unionization might be necessary for dealing with the issue at hand.
Powell thinks that otherwise, the command will continue working against its employees’ interests. For Powell, forming a union will force Blizzard to negotiate with its employees on equal terms and bar the company from punishing those who raise their voices.
The problems with the Raven Software layoffs come in the wake of a bigger scandal that has led to Activision Blizzard employees distrusting their leaders.
