(Bloomberg) — Some employees at Activision Blizzard Inc. are taking the initial, early steps toward organizing in an industry that isn’t unionized.
In collaboration with the media labor union, Communications Workers of America, employees of the U.S.’s second-largest video game publisher are asking colleagues to sign a union authorization card, which could eventually lead to a vote across the company. Their efforts coincide with the creation of a strike fund to support hundreds of workers who have been participating in a work stoppage since Monday in protest of layoffs at one of Activision Blizzard’s studios.
Workers at Santa Monica, California-based Activision, known for games like Call of Duty and World of Warcraft, have staged three protests since July, after a California agency sued the company over allegations of sexual harassment and gender-based discrimination. Issues have snowballed since then, including an investigation by the Securities and Exchange Commission and a class-action shareholder lawsuit. Employees and the Communications Workers of America also filed an unfair labor practice complaint against the company.
Organization around the protests and a call for a strike is being initiated by the ABK Workers Alliance, which represents the employees from the company’s largest studios, Activision, Blizzard and King. The Washington Post earlier reported on the unionization efforts.
A spokesperson for ABK said the group had already gathered several hundred signatures before this move, as it has been working with the CWA and the Campaign to Organize Digital Employees for months. If the group can collect union cards from 30% of workers in any of Activision Blizzard’s business units, it will be able to call for votes within those units, the spokesperson said.
Activision workers’ biggest concern right now is having a voice in what’s happening at the company, the spokesperson said, adding that workers have been “ignored and swept aside” for months.
In an email to employees, Activision said it supports workers’ legal right to decide whether to join a union. “We ask only that you take time to consider the consequences of your signature on the binding legal document presented to you by CWA,” Activision said. “Achieving our workplace culture aspirations will best occur through active, transparent dialogue between leaders and employees that we can act upon quickly.”
(Updates with response from Activision in final paragraph.)
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