A federal labor council ruled Friday that a group of about 20 quality workers who attempted to unionize at Activision Blizzard, the beleaguered video game company, met the requirements to hold union elections.
In a 27-page decision, Jennifer Hadsall, a regional director of the National Labor Relations Board, disagreed with Activision’s claim that the bid to form a union should be rejected because the company recently distributed its quality assurance testers across its Raven gaming studio, where she previously worked in a team.
“There was no evidence that QA testers would be eliminated or that their role would fundamentally change with the containment process,” Ms Hadsall wrote.
She also disagreed with the company’s claim that any union should include — and vote on — all workers in the 230-strong Raven studio.
Raven’s quality officers will vote by mail whether to join a union and be represented by the Communications Workers of America, and the votes will be counted on May 23.
Raven workers have said they hope unionization will lead to better job security: More than 60 took their jobs in December in protest at Activision’s decision to terminate the contracts of a dozen temporary quality workers, which they say was abrupt and unfair. felt.
“We are pleased that, after reviewing the evidence, the National Labor Relations Board has rejected attempts by Raven Software’s management to undermine our efforts to form a union,” said the quality officers and the Communications Workers of America in a joint statement. “It is now time for Raven management to stop trying to prevent us from exercising our rights. We look forward to voting for and winning our union.”
An Activision spokesperson said in a statement that the company was “disappointed that a decision that could have a significant impact on the future of our entire studio will be made by fewer than 10 percent of our employees.” He added that the company is looking at whether it can appeal the ruling.
