A group of Activision Blizzard workers have joined a union to file allegations of unfair labor practices, accusing the company of “union intimidation and busting.” This comes less than two months after a California state agency sued the company for alleged discrimination, harassment and retaliation. The new charges presented to the labor board state that Actiblizzard has tried to prevent employees from discussing working conditions or working together to improve them, in violation of labor law.
In July, the California Department of Employment and Fair Housing prosecuted Activision Blizzard with a lawsuit alleging that women were treated unfairly for pay and progress and that they had “fostered a ubiquitous workplace culture of “Frat frat” which “is a breeding ground for harassment and discrimination.”
The company’s initial flawed responses were described in an open letter signed by more than a thousand current and former employees as “unpleasant and insulting to everything we believe our company should represent”. Subsequently, many employees organized a protest test.
Now a group of employees has joined the Communications Workers Of America (CWA) union to file allegations of unfair labor practices at the U.S. National Labor Relations Board.
“We are very inspired by the courage of ABK workers and will always stand side by side with workers fighting harassment, aggression and discrimination,” CWA national organizing director Tom Smith said in a statement. “Management could have responded with humility and willingness to take the necessary steps to deal with the dire conditions faced by some ABK workers. Instead, Activision Blizzard’s response to the activity of the fair workers was the surveillance, intimidation and hiring of famous trade unionists. “
The charge alleges that Activision Blizzard threatens employees exercising their Section 7 self-organization rights, alleging that:
“The employer has threatened employees who cannot speak or communicate about wages, hours and working conditions; he has told employees that they cannot communicate or discuss ongoing investigations into wages, hours and working conditions; he has maintained a policy too broad social media, media policy against employees who have participated in protected concerted activities, employees threatened or disciplined because of protected concerted activities, dedicated to monitoring employees who participate in protected concerted activities and who interrogate employees about protected concerted activities. “
As explained by the National Labor Relations Board, Article 7 of the National Labor Relations Act guarantees employees “the right to self-organization, to form, to join or assist labor organizations, to bargain collectively in through representatives who choose and participate in other concerted activities for the purpose of collective bargaining or other mutual aid or protection “.
ABetterABK, the employee group, he tweeted“If the NLRB decides in our favor, the ruling will be retroactive and we will set a precedent so that no U.S. worker can be intimidated by talking about forced arbitration.”
Forced arbitration is where workers ’contracts require them to waive the right to sue, rather than having to resolve disputes through a private arbitrator. This is a process that often favors employers more than employees, and forced arbitration clauses can also divide workers by blocking class action lawsuits. In 2019, more than 150 Riot Games employees staged an outing to protest forced arbitration following the scandal at the League Of Legends studio.
Activision Blizzard is the parent company of Blizzard Entertainment, which publishes Activision, King Mobile for mobile and social gaming, Major League Gaming sports crew and various studios such as Infinity Ward, Treyarch, Raven Software, Sledgehammer Games and Toys For Bob. Since the Department of Fair Employment and Housing filed the lawsuit, Blizzard President J. Allen Brack has left, a person in charge of human resources has also disappeared, and he would have let go of others, including the director of Diablo 4.