Activision Blizzard Not Giving Raises to Unionizing Raven Software QA Testers

gamerant.com:

Thursday saw the announcement of a major victory for Activision Blizzard workers' efforts. As confirmed by the ABK Workers Alliance, Activision Blizzard will be promoting 1,100 Quality Assurance testers across multiple studios from temporary positions to full-time work. The promotion will also be accompanied by a pay raise, bringing rates up to $20/hour. However, the news is tempered by a decision by Activision Blizzard not to extend the pay raise to unionized QA testers at Raven Software.

The decision for Activision Blizzard to punish Raven Software workers was confirmed via secondary reporting by Bloomberg's Jason Schreier. Schreier explains that Activision Blizzard did not acknowledge the refusal to raise the pay for Raven Software QA testers initially. Instead, a leaked internal email led to the discovery. An Activision Blizzard spokesperson has since confirmed the decision to Schreier, making clear it was a deliberate choice to ostracize Raven's yet-to-be-recognized union of QA workers.

Activision Blizzard Making QA Testers Full-Time Employees and Giving Them Pay Raises

As an explanation for the decision, Activision Blizzard's spokesperson reportedly stated that it's «due to legal obligations under the National Labor Relations Act,» though the specifics were left unstated. The spokesperson further clarified that Raven's choice to unionize «has nothing to do with the salary increases elsewhere for Activision's QA workers.» The contradiction that the decision is both due to Raven QA testers' unionization efforts yet has nothing to do with those unionization efforts wasn't corrected.

The situation at Raven is complicated. In January, the QA team at Raven voted to legally unionize, but that was unfortunately just the start