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The new union comes to a small staffing organization: 28 QA agents from Activision’s Raven studio.
By Kellen Browning
A video game studio organization that is part of Activision Blizzard voted to form a syndicate, the first for a major North American video game company.
The vote, which passed 19-3, reaches 28 qaly workers at Raven Software, the Wisconsin studio that is helping to expand the popular Call of Duty game. Workers voted in recent weeks and the effects were counted on Monday to the end. Activision has a week to officially object if it discovers grounds for a complaint.
The new union, the Game Workers Alliance, is the culmination of months of unionization at Activision, which has come under increasing pressure from workers to improve operating conditions after a lawsuit accused the company of having a sexist culture in which women were harassed.
Unionization in Raven intensified in December, when quality control workers, or Q. A. , came out to protest the termination of about a dozen employment contracts. Communications Workers of America, a primary technology, media and communications union, helped lead the organizing effort.
“Our greatest hope is that our union will serve as an inspiration for the organization’s developing movement in video game studios to create better games and build workplaces that reflect our values and empower us all,” the new union said in a statement.
Sara Steffens, C. W. A. secretary-treasurer, said she was “delighted” to welcome the new union and that “these staff will soon have a binding union contract and a voice at work. “Sen. Tammy Baldwin, D-Wis. , also applauded the new union on Twitter.
Employees in the video game industry have complained for years about low wages, gender discrimination and “creaking,” a term for the arduous 12- to 14-hour shifts given to staff in a hurry to meet deadlines. These cracks have effects on quality control personnel. , who say they are treated as second-class personnel. In recent years, the staff has begun to organize. But until now, none of North America’s top video game developers had a syndicate.
The new union affects only a small staff organization: 28 quality control staff members at the Raven studio, where several hundred other people work. vote. The N. L. R. B. rejected this claim at a hearing in April.
On Monday, Activision reiterated its objection, arguing that the resolution to unionize “should not be made through 19 Raven employees. “The company did not say whether it planned to register an objection, only saying it “committed to doing what is most productive for the studio and our employees. “
An N. L. R. B. regional director “found the allegations” made through C. W. A. that Activision violated federal hard work legislation by telling workers to communicate about wages or operating conditions, maintaining an “overly broad” policy on social media, and tracking down workers who committed abuses. “protected concerted activity”. The labor board said it would file a lawsuit against Activision if it could not resolve the case.
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