Another branch of Blizzard Entertainment was organized under the auspices of Communications Workers of America. Today, the union announced that more than 400 employees in the company's Platforms and Technology division successfully voted to join the union. This group includes people from a variety of backgrounds, including graphic designers, engineers and project managers for Battle.net, as well as localization, quality testing and customer support specialists for other Blizzard products.
The union was recognized by Microsoft. The workers will be represented by CWA Local 9510 in Irvine, California, and Local 6215 in Austin, Texas.
In a statement, organizing committee members Daniel Weltz, Alex Cohn and Timothy Bailey cited the exodus of their colleagues – either due to layoffs or underpayment – as the driving force behind their decision to unionize. “Our culture is our people, and we can’t afford to lose that,” said Weltz, chief software engineer.
In an email interview with the trio, they explained that Blizzard is very contested return to office policy also had a major impact on employee unionization. They said the union will elect a bargaining committee in the next few weeks and send out a survey to members about their top priorities, then begin contract negotiations with Microsoft.
“More unions are raising workplace standards across the board,” the group said when asked how unionization could impact the industry as a whole. “Workplaces will now have to offer certain things to remain competitive with workers.”
“The industry itself also tends to view the people who make video games as disposable…we hope that with more unionization in the industry, we can change that perception.” Workers interested in learning more about the unionization process can contact CWA here.
