National Labor Relations Board finds that Activision Blizzard withheld raises from unionizing workers

gamedeveloper.com:

The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) is accusing Activision Blizzard of withholding raises from QA workers at its Raven Software subsidiary as a direct result their union activity.

As reported by The Washington Post, Raven testers voted to unionize earlier this year after protracted discussions with Activision Blizzard that saw some workers accuse the Call of Duty publisher of union busting in a bid to "thwart" their efforts.

Now, after an investigation into the matter, the NLRB has found that Activision Blizzard intentionally withheld raises from those involved in unionization efforts.

With the investigation now complete, Activision Blizzard and Raven testers will continue their efforts to strike a collective bargaining agreement. If a deal can't be agreed, however, there's now a chance the NLRB could file a complaint against Activision Blizzard or even seek to prosecute the case in federal court.

Speaking to Game Developer about the matter, an Activision Blizzard spokesperson said the publisher was unable to issue raises as a result of legal obligations laid out in the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA).

"Regarding the finding that the company withheld raises: Due to legal obligations under the NLRA requiring employers not to grant wage increases while an election was pending, we could not institute new pay initiatives at Raven because they would be brand new kinds of compensation changes, which had not been planned beforehand. This rule that employers should not grant these kinds of wage increases has been the law for many years," commented the company.

Activision Blizzard is also disputing claims that Activision Blizzard president and COO, Daniel Alegre, attempted to meet with bargaining Raven employees before