Following the NLRB’s findings, Activision Blizzard and Raven Software testers will continue negotiations for a collective bargaining agreement. If the employees and the company cannot agree on the terms, the NLRB can file a complaint or, in the more unlikely event that the company refuses to settle, the board can take the case to a federal judge.
“It’s a very preliminary victory for the union right now. It gives them a little leverage,” said Wilma Liebman, former NLRB chairman under former President Barack Obama, who said unions often file unfair labor complaints in conjunction with negotiation attempts. “It’s part of their tactics, you know, hitting them where they can, to put pressure on the company to come to an agreement with them and to stop breaking the law.”
A statement from Activision Blizzard spokesperson Rich George said: “Due to legal obligations under the [National Labor Relations Act] Forcing employers not to grant pay increases while there were still elections, we couldn’t initiate new pay initiatives at Raven because they would be brand new types of pay changes, which were not planned in advance. This rule that employers are not allowed to grant these kinds of pay increases has been the law for years.”
A labor complaint filed with the NLRB in June alleged that Activision discriminated against Blizzard in various ways and retaliated against current and former quality assurance testers for their union activities, including firing 12 quality assurance testers, reorganizing the studio to accommodate the quality assurance department. remove, withhold benefits and file complaints. The NLRB also found that the company had asked employees to voice their grievances as they awaited a union vote in May. Other parts of the complaint are still under investigation.
On Monday night, the Communications Workers of America filed an amended version of the complaint they initially filed in June, alleging that the company continues to violate labor laws by keeping the studio reorganized without a quality assurance department. It added that the company withheld pay increases for the Raven workers and announced that the withholding was due to union activity.
In May, a group of 28 Raven quality assurance testers won their bid for a union at the studio. The workers, who have organized themselves as the Game Workers Alliance, told The Washington Post they hope others in the video game industry will follow suit. Before the election victory in May, Activision Blizzard’s president and chief operating officer Daniel Alegre had attempted to meet with union negotiators in Wisconsin. This meeting attempt was discovered during the NLRB testimony process.
George, the spokesperson for Activision Blizzard, told The Washington Post in a statement, “This is not an accurate portrayal of events. Although Raven QA was given a non-mandatory opportunity to meet Activision Blizzard’s leadership during a site visit, because some QA testers had previously requested a meeting with management, at no point was this seen as an opportunity to address specific grievances. . In addition, the offer was never taken and a meeting never took place.”
In April, quality assurance testers at Activision Blizzard outside Raven were offered pay increases that pushed their pay to $20 an hour. Raven testers didn’t receive the same offer, which the NLRB says is now evidence of withholding benefits in retaliation for union activity. Quality assurance testers at Raven earn about $27,000 to $69,000 and are among the lowest-paid workers at the studio, according to pay documents the company shared during labor relations hearings in February.
“The company’s anti-union messages have been disappointingly effective, and I think the bigger win for us than getting the pay raise would be for Activision to admit that what they were doing was illegal,” said a current Raven Software employee, speaking on condition of anonymity for fear of reprisals.
George said the company looked forward to defending its position at the NLRB trial, and the appeals court trial “if necessary.”
“We just want the company to negotiate in good faith, get a fair contract, and get out of all this cheap and illegal behavior,” said Sara Steffens, secretary-treasurer of Communications Workers of America, who is part of the Raven-Craft union. helps employees organize .
Activision Blizzard awaits approval from international regulators for a deal to be acquired by Microsoft for nearly $69 billion. The Xbox and Windows maker said earlier in June that it would respect Activision Blizzard employees’ rights to join a union.
0 Comments