An Activision Blizzard booth during the Electronic Entertainment Expo in Los Angeles.
Jae C. Hong / AP
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Jae C. Hong / AP
An Activision Blizzard booth during the Electronic Entertainment Expo in Los Angeles.
Jae C. Hong / AP
Activision Blizzard is facing criticism for discouraging labor organizing after the video game giant wrote an email to employees begging them to “take time to consider the consequences” of the push. united efforts.
Brian Bulatao, a former Trump administration official who is now the chief administrative officer of Activision Blizzard, emailed 9,500 company employees on Friday mentioning a campaign led by the US Communications Workers to workplace organization.
The union push is seen as the latest challenge for company leaders
The company behind video games like “World of Warcraft,” “Call of Duty,” and “Candy Crush” has been in crisis since July, when California’s civil rights agency to sue about the alleged “twin” workplace culture, where sexual harassment is rampant. The lawsuit also claims women are paid less than their male counterparts.
In his company-wide note, Bulatao said employees unionizing is not the most effective way to reshape workplace culture.
“We just ask that you take your time to consider the consequences of your signature on the binding legal document the CWA presents to you,” Bulatao wrote in an internal email reviewed by NPR. “Achieving our workplace culture aspirations is best accomplished through transparent, positive dialogue between leaders and employees that we can act on quickly.”
Alliance experts say the purpose of the email is clear
For union organizers, the message represented an attempt to combat labor organizing through intimidation.
“Instead of responding to workers’ concerns, they chose to make the most grueling anti-union arguments straight out of the vandalism scenario,” said Tom Smith, national organization director for CWA. ,” said Tom Smith, CWA’s national organization director.
Catherine Fisk, an expert in employment law at the University of California, Berkeley, told NPR that the company’s messaging seems to cross the line between an illegal threat and legal persuasion – but she does say the way to draw is obvious.
“The goal is to appear both threatening (considering the consequences) and friendly (keeping us open to dialogue), while avoiding presenting an obvious threat,” Fisk said. “Threatening employees is illegal, but warning them is not.”
Activision Blizzard did not return a request for comment.
Employees are taking more and more common actions
In recent weeks, Activision Blizzard employees have been holding training sessions on contract workers fired and revealed that CEO Bobby Kotick was aware of allegations of sexual misconduct at the company but chose not to act for many years. Some shareholders of the $45 billion company have call Kotick resigned.
In addition to the ongoing legal battle with California regulators, the Securities and Exchange Commission has also launch an investigation of the company.
Unions practically don’t exist in the video game industry, so TTK’s campaign to get workers to sign union cards is an important, if preliminary, move towards unionization. Usually, to National Labor Relations Board To hold an election, 30% of workers must sign a petition or union card, showing that they want the union to represent them.
In an email to employees, Bulatao wrote – in bold letters – that Activision Blizzard management supports the right of employees to make their own decisions about “whether or not to join a union.”
An organizer said she faced ‘internal resistance’
Jessica Gonzalez, senior test analyst at Activision Blizzard, who helps run BetterABK, a Twitter account that advocates for uniting workers at the company, said she believes company leadership will step up efforts to quell union pressure.
“When I started the organization, there was a lot of internal feedback,” Gonzalez told NPR. “I was vilified. It took a toll on my mental health,” she said.
Gonzalez resigned from the company on Friday, but she said her work supporting union efforts at the company will continue. She recently set up a GoFundMe to raise money for colleagues who are stopping asking Kotick and other senior leaders to resign.
“I care about the people I work with. It’s the people who make crazy games great. We should nurture that passion, not exploit it,” she said. . “Culture comes from the top, but Bobby Kotick has had 30 years to fix the culture. It hasn’t happened yet.”
