American Telecommunication workers announced on Monday that they had reached a labor neutral agreement with Microsoft, which will be applied to Activision Blizzard two months after Microsoft plans to acquire the game giant.
According to the terms of the agreement, Microsoft adopts a neutral official policy on any interest or exploration of employees represented by CWA to join the trade union. This broadly includes anyone working in the field of telecommunications or information technology, which may include most of the roles in the video game development studio.
The agreement is a follow-up to several initiatives taken by Microsoft in the past two weeks, including a commitment to adopt an “open and constructive attitude” towards trade unions in the field of technology.
Bradsmith, President of Microsoft, said in a statement: “earlier this month, we announced a set of principles guiding our treatment of the ILO. The acquisition of Activision Blizzard is the first time we have had the opportunity to put these principles into practice.”.
Due to the major workplace problems in the large video game industry, such as schedule, employment and dismissal cycle, at least in the past four years, the efforts of trade unions at the grass-roots level have been growing. The CWA agreement signed with Microsoft marks the most important step forward for the whole movement. Although Microsoft’s responsibilities are equivalent to staying out, it is still one of the most supportive actions of major industry participants so far.
CWA said the agreement resolved “previous concerns about acquisitions” and now supports the $68.7 billion deal announced in January.
Chris Shelton, President of CWA, said that the agreement “establishes an important framework for employers in the game industry”
“Microsoft’s binding commitment will give employees a place on the negotiating table and ensure that the acquisition of Activision Blizzard will benefit the company’s employees and the broader video game labor market,” Shelton said.
The agreement will make it easier for studios within Activision to unionize, and the company has done its best to prevent this process. Nevertheless, the quality assurance team of Raven software, a subsidiary of Activision Blizzard, successfully voted to establish a labor union at the end of last month.