Activision Blizzard accused of illegal surveillance in new NLRB complaint

gamedeveloper.com:

A new worker complaint to the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) alleges that Activision Blizzard has been illegally surveilling its employees. First reported by Kotaku's Ethan Gach, the complaint states that the Call of Duty publisher had cut off access to a chat channel held by workers discussing wages and employee hours, and threatened to shut down other internal communication channels inside the company. 

In July, the worker advocacy group ABK Workers Alliance gathered developers from multiple Activision Blizzard studios to engage in a walkout to protest the company's slow efforts to combat gender inequity. The walkout was held at Blizzard's offices in California, Texas, and Minnesota, and drew the attention of other worker advocacy groups in the area, such as the Orange County Labor Federation and Game Workers of Southern California. 

Filed on August 12, the complaint specifically alleges that Activision Blizzard engaged in coercive statements and actions (which includes promises of benefits and threats), coercive rules, and concentrated activities (retaliation, discipline). These actions are said to have taken place during the July walkout. 

This new worker complaint comes days after Activision Blizzard's lawyers attempted to argue with the NLRB for why Blizzard Albany's QA workers shouldn't unionize. As part of their argument, the lawyers were said to have revealed a list of QA testers for Blizzard's Diablo IV, and stated that only Diablo IV developers should be unionizing.  

A complaint similar to the recent two was quietly filed in late December 2021, accusing Activision Blizzard of coercive statements. 

This is the second worker complaint related to Activision Blizzard to reach the NLRB. In May, the NLRB found