Activision Blizzard employees stage walkout with office Covid concerns and working-from-home demands

rockpapershotgun.com:

A number of Activision Blizzard employees plan to stage a walkout today, whether in-person or virtually, to protest the company's plans for employees returning to the office amidst an ongoing global pandemic. The company initially announced last week that they would no longer require people be vaccinated in order to return, then seemed to quickly walk this back a bit in response to many employees saying excuse me, what. An employee group had announced a walkout before Actiblizz's change of heart, and apparently are going ahead today to continue conversations about safe workplaces and the option to work from home.

"Effective immediately, we are lifting our vaccine mandate for all U.S. employees," Activision Blizzard chief administrative officer Brian Bulatao said in a Thursday e-mail to employees, which was promptly leaked. "This means that employees no longer need to be fully vaccinated in order to return to the office."

He explained, "Over the past several weeks, we've seen businesses and other indoor venues across the U.S. lift vaccine requirements, and we feel it is important to align our site protocols with local guidance." A bit of a non-explanation. Later in the e-mail, he talked up "the benefits of in-person collaboration", which might be closer to the reason.

"In order to ensure we all have a safe workspace where we can gather with colleagues and innovate together, it is essential we stay committed to protecting ourselves and others," Bulatao said, mere sentences after announcing a decision which reduces workplace safety.

Some employees were not best pleased about this. In response, the ABK Workers Alliance employee group announced on Friday that they would stage a walkout on Monday, and oh hey that's now today.