Activision Blizzard Refuses to Recognize Raven Software Union, Prompting Petition to the NLRB

gamerant.com:

Recently, Raven Software’s Quality Assurance team formed the Game Workers Alliance and demanded its parent company, Activision Blizzard, recognize the union. The deadline for this recognition has come and gone, and Activision Blizzard has refused to recognize the union on its terms, forcing the GWA to take its petition to the National Labor Relations Board.

This situation first began when Call of Duty developer Raven Software fired a dozen temp workers right before the holiday season, prompting a legion of employees from across Raven Software and Activision Blizzard King to strike in solidarity. The strike lasted for almost two months, with minimal recognition from ABK, and ended with Raven QA’s formation of the Game Workers Alliance.

Blizzard Lead Outlines Plan to Rebuild Trust With Players and Employees

With the union’s formation, the Raven and ABK employees ended their strike, pending Activision Blizzard’s recognition of the newly-formed union. However, Activision Blizzard allowed the deadline of recognition to pass, only to later state in a statement it “could not reach an agreement” with the GWA and the Communication Workers of America–the largest media union in the United States, which the GWA will be affiliated with, inviting it to bring its petition to the NLRB to force an election. It has since done so, meaning the fledgling union’s fate is currently in the NLRB’s hands.

We expect that the union will be moving forward with the filing of a petition to the NLRB for an election. If filed, the company will respond formally to that petition promptly. The most important thing to the company is that each eligible employee has the opportunity to have their voice heard and their individual vote counted, and we think all