Blizzard Albany’s quality control workers, formerly known as Vicarious Visions, are asking Activision Blizzard to recognize their union. The group, called Game Workers Alliance Albany (GWA Albany), announced the union movement on Twitter. The Washington Post first reported the story. GWA Albany wrote on their Twitter:
“QA is currently an undervalued discipline in the gaming and software industries. We strive to promote work environments where we are respected and rewarded for our essential role in the development process. We, the quality control testers at Blizzard Albany, are committed to promoting an open, diverse and equitable workplace. We demand an environment where our skills, ideals and democratic decisions are valued and respected. To that end, we organized ourselves with [Communication Works of America] to form our union”.
GWA Albany asked Activision Blizzard for voluntary recognition last week, according to the CWA. Activision Blizzard has not officially responded. In a statement to the international website Polygon, an Activision Blizzard spokesperson said the company will respond “publicly and formally” to the National Labor Relations Board’s petition.
The full statement is as follows:
Our top priority remains our employees. We deeply respect the rights of all employees under the law to make their own decisions about whether or not to join a union. We believe that a direct relationship between the company and its employees is the most productive relationship. The company will publicly and formally provide a response to the petition to the NLRB.
About 20 quality control workers are eligible as part of the unit, according to the Washington Post. GWA Albany has filed with the NLRB, the CWA said, which will likely lead to a union vote. This is the second group of Activision Blizzard workers to unionize under the company after Raven Software’s quality control workers won over their union in May. Raven Software workers were forced to vote for the union after Activision Blizzard voluntarily refused to recognize it.
Vicarious Visions became Blizzard Albany in April. The 31-year-old studio was founded in 1991 and is best known for its work onCrash Bandicoot N. Sane Trilogy, Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 1 and 2, and for supporting Diablo II: Resurrected last September. It is now fully focused on Blizzard Entertainment games.
Like the rest of Activision Blizzard, Blizzard Albany will likely be merged into Microsoft following approval of the $68.7 billion Activision Blizzard purchase. If that deal passes, Microsoft said it won’t impede union efforts –in fact, it will remain “neutral”after signing an agreement with the CWA. This agreement shall take effect 60 days after the closing of the deal.
This article is a translation of the writing by Nicole Carpenter to the website Polygon.
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