The Unions, Once Again, Side With Microsoft And VS The FTC On The Activision Deal

gameranx.com:

We have an interesting series of tweets in reaction to the FTC losing their case vs the Microsoft – Activision deal. As you will see, it really demonstrates how the stakes of this deal go beyond what gamers see is important for themselves.

Last July 11, the Communications Workers of America (CWA) sent this tweet:

“Breaking! We applaud today’s decision to deny the Federal Trade Commission’s request for a preliminary injunction to prevent Microsoft from closing its deal to acquire Activision Blizzard.

By accepting Judge Corley’s decision and allowing this merger to move forward, the Federal Trade Commission has an opportunity to transform the video game and technology labor market by providing a clear path to collective bargaining for almost 10,000 workers.”

Now, not all who followed this story may remember, but unions were among the earliest supporters of the Microsoft Activision deal. While some may assume that unions would oppose any move that would make big companies even bigger, these unions were thinking more strategically.

What they saw in particular was that Activision had been harsh towards any attempts of their workers to unionize. In contrast, Microsoft had promised, and demonstrated, a willingness to recognize and negotiate with unions.

The CWA is joined in this by the AFL-CIO, AKA the American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations. In other words, the AFL-CIO is a larger organization made of various other unions. The currently striking WGA and SAG-AFTRA are part of the AFL-CIO, just like the CWA, and other unions in the games industry.

Both the AFL-CIO and CWA expressed their support for the deal last December of last year and February of this year, respectively. But today, some major