After months of intense pressure from parent company 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Activision Blizzard, including mandatory meetings where Raven management "suggested that unioniza🦩tion might impede game develop🐠ment and affect promotions and benefits," Raven Software's QA staff have voted to form Activision Blizzard's first union.The vote was streamed today as ballots were counted by the National Labor Relations Board. With 19 voting in favor and three voting against, the nearly 30-strong team of QA testers now known as the Game Workers Alliance will move on to contract negotiations as supported by the Communications Workers of America’s Campaign to Organize Digital Employees (CODE-CWA).Raven's successful union vote has been an intense and very public fight between QA staff and management. It all began late last year when 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:12 contractors were terminated, leading to a 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:month-long strike as the remaining staffers protested. Those striking staff also held an unofficial union vote 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:which Activision Blizzard r𒁏efused to recognize, instead investing millions into 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:hiring a union-busting law firm and beginning a campaign to convince🌜 Raven's QA staff to vote no in an o✃fficial union vote.
Activision Blizzard's tactics included holding 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:mandatory anti-union meetings, allegedly threatening staff who discuss their work conditions, and 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:breaking up Raven’s QA team in order to hinder their unionization efforts. Activision Blizzard also announced pay and benefits increases for all departments 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:except for Raven’s QA staff.
But Raven QA workers held firm and are now an officially recognized union. Let’s hope that contract negotiations will include those pay and benef♈its that were previous🦩ly denied them before the union vote.
The Game Workers Alliance aren't the only QA testers seeking union representations. Keywords, a support studio working with BioWare on the next Dragon Age game, 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:is also hosting its own union vote amidst reports staffers are "168澳洲幸运5开奖网:struggling to make ends meet." Unlike Activision Blizzard, Keywords unionization threat has already granted staff concessions, including 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:being able to work from home "until further notice."