Microsoft’s Union Ally Pushes for FTC Deal on Activision Merger
Microsoft Corp.'s newfound support for organized labor has given the company a powerful ally pushing the US Federal Trade Commission for a settlement to allow the software company's $69 billion acquisition of Activision Blizzard Inc.
The Communication Workers of America has rallied to the side of one of technology's biggest companies after Microsoft said it would recognize workers who choose to organize at video-game maker Activision. The union, which represents nearly half a million workers in telecommunications, media, education and technology, has publicly cheered the deal as a breakthrough in an industry that has been hostile to organized labor.
CWA Chief of Staff Jody Calemine said Microsoft's labor neutrality agreement sets a precedent for corporations pursuing mergers — and should be recognized by the Biden administration, which has cast itself as proudly pro-union. Calemine said the FTC's decision last month to sue to block the merger was “a huge missed opportunity to really give workers a seat at the table when it comes to mergers and acquisitions.”
“We're hoping that ultimately the FTC will figure out a way to settle its differences with Microsoft over this transaction,” Calemine said in an interview. “There's still a chance perhaps that that could happen, that they'd settle this and the acquisition would finally go through.”
The quest for a settlement is a long shot with an FTC whose chair, Lina Khan, has publicly said she's not interested in alleged monopolies promising to be good monopolies. FTC lawyer James Weingarten told a judge Tuesday that the agency is “always open to any settlement proposal,” but that “there are no substantive discussions at this time” with Microsoft.
Microsoft, maker of the Xbox console,
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