Kotick blames scandals on "a very aggressive labor movement"

gamesindustry.biz:

Activision Blizzard CEO Bobby Kotick believes the company's image problems stem not from a workplace culture that spawned numerous gender discrimination lawsuits from former employees and state and federal agencies alike, but from "outside forces" and unionization supporters.

In an interview with Variety published today, Kotick said his biggest mistake was not being more forceful in trying to defend the company, particularly when the Wall Street Journal published a detailed report of numerous incidents, including Kotick threatening to have an assistant killed, intervening to protect a senior employee accused of sexual harassment after the HR department determined that employee should be fired, and firing a flight attendant on a private jet he co-owned after she complained the pilot had sexually harassed her.

"We've had every possible form of investigation done," Kotick said. "And we did not have a systemic issue with harassment — ever. We didn't have any of what were mischaracterizations reported in the media. But what we did have was a very aggressive labor movement working hard to try and destabilize the company."

No specific allegation was mentioned as mischaracterized or false, and the Wall Street Journal provided Variety with a quote saying it stood by its "fair and accurate reporting on Activision."

Kotick blamed "outside forces" for the company's image problems, saying labor organizers played a part in the state and federal gender discrimination lawsuits as well as a number of employee walkouts that occurred over the past couple years.

Kotick insisted he was not anti-union, saying, "If we have employees who want a union to represent them, and they believe that that union is going to be able to provide them