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Workers in Blizzard’s Hearthstone and Warcraft Rumble teams have voted to unionise with the Communications Workers of America.
Over 100 software engineers, designers, artists, quality assurance testers, and producers voted to join the CWA Local 9510 in Irvine, California, joining 1900+ other Activision Blizzard employees who have similarly chosen to unionise. Parent company Microsoft has reportedly recognised the union.
“My coworkers, as individuals, have voiced many concerns over the years, but it is easy for any company to ignore individuals,” said organising committee member and game designer Dominic Calkosz. “We chose to organise in pursuit of a collective voice and a force of solidarity which the industry cannot ignore.”
The move comes shortly after CWA president Claude Cummings Jr. met with workers at Blizzard’s Irvine campus to “celebrate the growing wave of organising across the industry” as unionised staff across Activision Blizzard joined the World of Warcraft Bargaining Committee “for a solidarity walk as contract negotiations continued”.
Eurogamer recently spoke to members of Blizzard’s story and franchise development team about their union, discussing their demands from Microsoft.
Earlier this week, EA employees and the Communications Workers of America union issued a statement against the proposed private acquisition of the company, claiming they were not represented in the negotiations and any jobs lost as a result would “be a choice, not a necessity, made to pad investors’ pockets”. Eurogamer also spoke with the Human Rights Watch on the controversial acquisition.
