The National Labor Relations Board has declared {that a} group of 21 QA employees at Raven Software, the Activision Blizzard subsidiary now best-known for its work on Call of Duty: Warzone, is eligible for a union vote. Activision argued that any such vote must embody all the studio’s workers, who quantity over 200, whereas union proponents stated that will’ve diluted the vote.
The NLRB will now mail union ballots to eligible workers, as The Washington Post studies, which can embody each full-time and part-time QA employees presently employed by Raven. The votes will probably be counted throughout a video convention on May 23.
An Activision Blizzard consultant tells the Post that the corporate is reviewing authorized choices, together with an enchantment of the choice. “While we respect the NLRB course of,” the rep says, “we’re disillusioned {that a} determination that might considerably influence the way forward for our complete studio will probably be made by fewer than 10 p.c of our workers. We consider a direct relationship with group members is the most effective path to attaining particular person and firm objectives.”
Raven Software QA employees fashioned the Game Workers Alliance in collaboration with the Communication Workers of America again in January, Activision Blizzard didn’t reply to requests to voluntarily recognise the union. The formation of GWA got here in response to a lot of layoffs for contract QA employees at Raven, a transfer that prompted strikes.
In July 2021, the state of California filed a lawsuit against Activision Blizzard alleging years of office discrimination and harassment. The story has since embroiled CEO Bobby Kotick and prompted the US federal authorities to open an investigation. It continues to unfold and to be of immense significance to the sport trade. You can make amends for all of the developments thus far in this frequently up to date explainer article.
Earlier this month, Activision Blizzard introduced that it will convert all contracted QA testers throughout all its studios to full-time workers, and improve their minimal wage to $20 per hour. However, the corporate didn’t present that elevate to employees at Raven, which representatives stated is “on account of authorized obligations underneath the National Labor Relations Act.”
