NLRB gives nod to Blizzard Albany union election

pcgamesinsider.biz:

The US' National Labor Relations Board has said that Blizzard Albany's QA team can vote for a union.

That's according to the Washington Post, which reports that 21 members of the company's quality assurance team is allowed to vote to form a union at the studio, something that they argued to the NLRB in August of this year. Parent company Activision Blizzard, meanwhile, argued that all 88 members of staff at Blizzard Albany should be allowed to vote on the union.

Union ballots are being mailed on October 27th and need to be returned by November 17th. A count will take place the following day. 

“I’m very happy and excited that we can move forward with voting for our union,” said Amanda Laven, Blizzard Albany associate test analyst and one of the aforementioned 21 members of staff.

“I hope that Activision Blizzard will set an example for companies everywhere by not engaging in further union busting and by working with us in good faith.”

In a statement, Activision Blizzard's Rich George added: "While we respect the NLRB process, we strongly disagree that a decision that could significantly impact the future of the entire Albany-based Diablo team should be made by just a handful of employees.

"Given our tightly integrated operations in Albany, all of our eligible non-supervisory employees there should have a voice and be allowed to vote, not just the approximately 20 quality assurance testers picked by the union."

Word that Blizzard Albany's QA team was attempting to unionise emerged in July of this year. Since, the company has accused Activision Blizzard of union busting.