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Activision Blizzard employees win their union vote

Nomad4Ever

Dark Brandon Acolyte
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The Game Workers Alliance, the union of quality assurance workers at Activision subsidiary studio Raven Software, has won their union vote. The votes were tallied today and the union passed with 19 out of 22 votes with two challenged ballots. The election makes the Game Workers Alliance (GWA) the first union for Activision Blizzard and only the second formal union in US video game industry.

Activision Blizzard was persistent in its attempts to stymie the unionization movement. Days after the GWA formed, Raven QA employees were broken out of their single department and distributed across multiple teams. The company also failed to voluntarily recognize the GWA, triggering the election process. During that time, the company petitioned the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) to determine that the voting unit be composed of Raven Software employees instead of just the QA workers trying to unionize, which could have potentially diluted the majority needed to formally elect a union.
Glad to see union busting is alive and well at Activision. Luckily for them, my opinion of their company already could not be lower so this didn't effect my opinion on them.

Really encouraging to see unionization in game development. It is an industry that badly needs it and is notorious for long hours and low pay.
In a wholly separate but related matter, the NLRB said it has evidence that the Call of Duty publisher violated labor laws. In a report by Bloomberg, the NLRB stated that Activision Blizzard threatened employees, stating that they could not talk about wages, hours, or working conditions and implemented a restrictive social media policy that also interfered with employees’ protected organization rights. The news broke hours before the union vote was read aloud, and if the company does not settle, the NLRB has stated it will formally file a complaint. Activision Blizzard has denied the claims.
Disappointing but unsurprising revelation. Hopefully we can keep this recent increase in unionization going 💪
 



Glad to see union busting is alive and well at Activision. Luckily for them, my opinion of their company already could not be lower so this didn't effect my opinion on them.

Really encouraging to see unionization in game development. It is an industry that badly needs it and is notorious for long hours and low pay.

Disappointing but unsurprising revelation. Hopefully we can keep this recent increase in unionization going 💪

The only video games I own are Blizzard games. Diablo and Starcraft series. I haven't played either in about half a year. Great games. But I'm glad to see them unionize after all it seemed that their employees were going through. Was completely bummed when Activision bought Blizzard back in the day.
 
Meanwhile...right to work states keeps growing...


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Yep. We still have a lot of work to do to combat anti-labor laws.
What anti labor laws?

I am not going to pay dues to some fat cat to work
 
What's your beef with a unionized workforce?
American manufacturing unions I hate, European style manufacturing unions I love

Grew up in the 70s and 80s
 
That's from 2017. The rapid increase in unionization began in early 2022. So I guess you are going to be sad now.
The private sector unionization rate was just 6.1 percent in 2021, and Union membership in the private sector has been declining for decades. However, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) reported that for the first six months of Fiscal Year 2022 (October 1, 2021 – March 31, 2022), labor unions filed 57 percent more representation petitions than they did during the same period a year earlier. It also seems that just about every day we are seeing a headline about a labor union organizing employees at a national company with a well-recognized brand, including Apple, Starbucks, and Amazon. This increase comes on the heels of a Gallup poll of Americans’ approval of Labor Unions, which establishes that the percentage of Americans who view labor unions favorably has gone from just 48 percent in 2009 to 68 percent in 2021. The last time this many Americans viewed unions positively was 1965 and union membership rate in the United States was near its all-time high then.
 
American manufacturing unions I hate, European style manufacturing unions I love

Grew up in the 70s and 80s
The German model for labor unions is actually something I think is quite attractive and good for people.
 
The German model for labor unions is actually something I think is quite attractive and good for people.
Exactly I would work for a European style union in a heart beat
 
What anti labor laws?
A major reason for the artificially low number of union members in the U.S. is our outdated labor laws that advantage anti-union companies with armies of lawyers over every day American workers. These laws are preventing Americans who want to have a union from joining or forming one in their own workplace, keeping union membership and workers’ pay artificially low. That’s the untold story that’s getting clearer every day.

And it’s why we need to do everything we can to make it easier for workers to band together and form a union if they want one.
 
Exactly I would work for a European style union in a heart beat
I worked in IT for a german multinational for several years. The types of things that needed to go through a "worker's council" was quite interesting to me. But I also dealt with, sometimes, very private or sensitive data, so I get it.
 
American manufacturing unions I hate, European style manufacturing unions I love

Grew up in the 70s and 80s
IYO, what's the difference between the two union styles?
 
IYO, what's the difference between the two union styles?
Ask tacomancer he is a socialist Democrat, you would probably believe him more then me.

Here is a link liberal vox


 
Ask tacomancer he is a socialist Democrat, you would probably believe him more then me.

Here is a link liberal vox


You seem to laud right-to-work states gaining ground. That is the antithesis of Euro styled unions and American unions. Then you said you like Euro-styled unions. So I don't quite understand your position.
 
You seem to laud right-to-work states gaining ground. That is the antithesis of Euro styled unions and American unions. Then you said you like Euro-styled unions. So I don't quite understand your position.
I will make it simple for you, American style manufacturing unions care only about the employees, European style manufacturing unions care about the employees, the company and the quality of parts they produce.
 
You seem to laud right-to-work states gaining ground. That is the antithesis of Euro styled unions and American unions. Then you said you like Euro-styled unions. So I don't quite understand your position.
i suspect he appreciates the distinction that european unions are active in europe and not the USA

nothing else he has posted offers a clue as to what he finds to be a distinction between US v european unions

hell, he even suggested another forum member should answer the question for him, even though he posted the comment about preferring euro-style unions above USA-brand unions

when it comes to unions, many opponents of unionization know nothing about unionization
 



Glad to see union busting is alive and well at Activision. Luckily for them, my opinion of their company already could not be lower so this didn't effect my opinion on them.

Really encouraging to see unionization in game development. It is an industry that badly needs it and is notorious for long hours and low pay.

Disappointing but unsurprising revelation. Hopefully we can keep this recent increase in unionization going 💪


Not that I am the hugest fan of unions, but where there is abuse, there must be redress. These employees were facing abuse, and it is only right that they organized to combat it.
 
i suspect he appreciates the distinction that european unions are active in europe and not the USA

nothing else he has posted offers a clue as to what he finds to be a distinction between US v european unions

hell, he even suggested another forum member should answer the question for him, even though he posted the comment about preferring euro-style unions above USA-brand unions

when it comes to unions, many opponents of unionization know nothing about unionization



What Detroit does is give unions the keys to the treasury until nothing is left. That day has come, and their own success is killing unions. What can save Detroit? Nothing, probably, though a group of waggish libertarians proposed buying the Detroit river’s dilapidated park Belle Isle for $1 billion (goodbye, budget deficit! For a couple of years, at least) and turning it into a lightly-regulated capitalist wonderland: Macau of Michigan. The New York Times predictably mocked the scheme (because, obviously, Hong Kong and Singapore are doing so badly) but what other plan could make Detroit safe for capitalism again? Detroit is already a union wasteland. It could hardly do any worse if it became home to Galt’s Gulch.
 
American manufacturing unions I hate, European style manufacturing unions I love

Grew up in the 70s and 80s
So you want to be more like the Europeans with 4-6 weeks mandatory paid vacation, 6-12 months parental leave, universal healthcare, etc...
 
So you want to be more like the Europeans with 4-6 weeks mandatory paid vacation, 6-12 months parental leave, universal healthcare, etc...
No I want unions to care about employees and quality products
 



What Detroit does is give unions the keys to the treasury until nothing is left. That day has come, and their own success is killing unions. What can save Detroit? Nothing, probably, though a group of waggish libertarians proposed buying the Detroit river’s dilapidated park Belle Isle for $1 billion (goodbye, budget deficit! For a couple of years, at least) and turning it into a lightly-regulated capitalist wonderland: Macau of Michigan. The New York Times predictably mocked the scheme (because, obviously, Hong Kong and Singapore are doing so badly) but what other plan could make Detroit safe for capitalism again? Detroit is already a union wasteland. It could hardly do any worse if it became home to Galt’s Gulch.
Post hoc ergo propter hoc.

This article cites a bunch of shit you couldn't possibly attribute to unions. You think the rise in health insurance cost is a result of unions? LOL!
 
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