Activision Blizzard won’t voluntarily recognize the historic Raven Software QA union –
Summary
Last week, quality assurance testers at Activision Blizzard division Raven Software formed the first union at a major U.S. gaming company, comprising their 34-member unit. We are deeply disappointed that Raven Software and Activision Blizzard refused to uplift workers rights by choosing to not voluntarily recognize our union in spite of our supermajority support. Following a two-year investigation, the state of California’s Department of Fair Employment and Housing filed a lawsuit against Activision Blizzard in July, alleging that the company fostered a “‘frat boy’ workplace culture,” calling it “a breeding ground for harassment and discrimination against women.” Unions can help workers guarantee their protections in many situations, from mitigating workplace harassment to ensuring severance pay in the event of sudden layoffs. This change will enhance the collaborative work our teams do to support our games and players and make the opportunities for our talented QA staff even stronger,” the company told TechCrunch. It is also a milestone in our broader plan to integrate QA more into the development process as our teams strive to deliver best in class coordination in real-time, live service operations.” Amid months of internal activism at Activision Blizzard, Rongstad said that the news of the pending Microsoft acquisition doesn’t change workers’ desire to build a safer workplace.
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