Activision Blizzard Reportedly Withheld Raises from Raven Software Employees for Unionizing

gamerant.com:

Activision Blizzard is being accused of denying employees at Raven Software pay raises because of the unionization efforts at the studio, according to an investigation by the US National Labor Relations Board. However, despite Activision’s other attempts at union-busting, the company insists that it was legally obligated from giving out raises.

Last year saw protests at Raven over the layoff of a dozen quality assurance testers grow to include employees from all over Activision’s studios. From this came a push by a group of Raven’s QA testers to unionize, which it voted to do in May this year, officially forming the Game Workers Alliance, the first AAA video game developer union in the US. It’s no secret that Activision Blizzard has been pushing back against this, having refused to recognize the GWA and spreading anti-union messages in the lead-up to the vote.

Blizzard Albany is Trying to Unionize

That may be just the tip of the iceberg, though, as the company has been accused of threatening union-supporting employees in various ways. The Washington Post reports that, according to the NLBR’s findings, Activision excluded Raven from receiving pay raises that it offered to its other studios’ QA testers in April. Given the timing of the move, this could be evidence of retaliation on Activision’s part for Raven’s unionization efforts.

But Activision says that’s not the case, as a spokesperson stated that “legal obligations under the [National Labor Relations Act]” required the company not to give out wage increases while an election was pending. The logic behind this claim seems to be that the company didn’t want to interfere with the GWA vote, though that doesn’t add up in light of the emails Raven’s upper management reportedly