Feed: Slashdot
Feed Link: https://slashdot.org/
---

Title: Blizzard's 'Diablo' Devs Unionize. There's Now 3,500 Unionized
Microsoft Workers

Link: https://it.slashdot.org/story/25/09/01/041320...

PC Gamer reports: The Diablo team is the next in line to unionize at
Blizzard. Over 450 developers across multiple disciplines have voted to form
a union under the Communications Workers of America (CWA), and they're now
the fourth major Blizzard team to do so... A wave of unions have formed at
Blizzard in the last year, including the World of Warcraft, Overwatch, and
Story and Franchise Development teams. Elsewhere at Microsoft, Bethesda,
ZeniMax Online Studios and ZeniMax QA testers have also unionized... The CWA
says over 3,500 Microsoft workers have now organized to fight for fair
compensation, job security, and improved working conditions. CWA is America's
largest communications and media labor union, and in a statement, local 9510
president Jason Justice called the successful vote "part of a much larger
story about turning the tide in an industry that has long overlooked its
labor. Entertainment workers across film, television, music, and now video
games are standing together to have a seat at the table. The strength of our
movement comes from that solidarity." And CWA local 6215 president Ron
Swaggerty said "Each new organizing effort adds momentum to the nationwide
movement for video game worker power." "What began as a trickle has turned
into an avalanche," writes the gaming news site Aftermath, calling the latest
vote "a direct result of the union neutrality deal Microsoft struck with CWA
in 2022 when it was facing regulatory scrutiny over its $68.7 billion
purchase of Activision Blizzard." We've come a long way since small units at
Raven and Blizzard Albany fended off Activision Blizzard's pre-acquisition
attempts at union busting in 2022 and 2023, and not a moment too soon:
Microsoft's penchant for mass layoffs has cut some teams to the bone and left
others warily counting down the days until their heads land on the chopping
block. This new union, workers hope, will act as a bulwark... [B]ased on
preliminary conversations with prospective members, they can already hazard a
few guesses as to what they'll be arm-wrestling management over at the
bargaining table: pay equity, AI, crediting, and remote work.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

---
VRSS v2.1.180528