Published , by Chris Jarrard
Published , by Chris Jarrard
As the ongoing Activision Blizzard labor saga draws on for another month, new details and info continue to leak out of the mess at a steady pace. In a post made to an Activision Blizzard Slack channel, Vice President of QA Chris Arends posted a list of questions and answers about unionization and what it could mean for the company and its employees. The post downplayed the benefits of unions and was locked so employees could not respond.
A screengrab of the Slack post in question was spread around Twitter yesterday. In it, Arends poses six questions to employees about the unionization efforts spearheaded by Raven Software QA employees. The group had formally requested that Activision Blizzard recognize their organization and gave a deadline, but the company let said deadline pass. The Raven QA workers have signaled their intent to file with the National Labor Relations Board following the snub.
For employees not already a part of the unionization efforts within the Activision Blizzard umbrella, the information provided in the six-question post could sway decision making. While the initial wording of the post implies that executives at Activision Blizzard stand with their employees, the language used in the post and its claims against the effectiveness of collective bargaining tells a different story.
Even though Activision Blizzard is currently entering a years-long process that will see it absorbed by Microsoft, it is still putting up the fight against collective bargaining. Expect further developments as this story clearly has more to come.