Video game workers get union footing at Microsoft
The result, involving about 300 employees, is one of the biggest victories for the labor movement at a major American technology company.
The unions won one of their biggest victories at a US tech company on Tuesday, gaining a foothold among about 300 employees at a Microsoft-owned video game maker.
< p class="css-at9mc1 evys1bk0 ">The Communications Workers of America, which will represent employees, announced the result, and Microsoft released a statement acknowledging the result."We look forward to engaging in good religious negotiations as we work toward a collective bargaining agreement," the company said. Microsoft has no other unionized workers.
The unionization movement at the video game manufacturer, Z eniMax Media, which Microsoft acquired for approximately $7.5 billion in a 2021 deal, did not involve a conventional union election held by the National Labor Relations Board.
>Instead, the company allowed workers to express their preferences in two ways: they could sign a union authorization card, which some have started to do in November, or they could vote anonymously via an open online platform for most of December.
The process was more efficient and less controversial than the ahead of a typical labor council election, which can involve extensive legal wrangling.
Microsoft has agreed to remain neutral throughout the labor campaign, avoiding meetings and anti-union messages in which many enter enterprises engage. The concessions came as the company tried to appease antitrust regulators reviewing its proposed roughly $70 billion acquisition of video game maker Activision Blizzard. each other in ways we never could without a union,” Skylar Hinnant, a worker involved in the organizing campaign, said in a statement.
When workers at a sprawling Staten Island Amazon warehouse pushed to organize last year, the company fought the effort aggressively. The union won in April, but Amazon disputed the results. Apple also sought to persuade retail workers not to unionize, although workers at two stores voted to do so.
ZeniMax employees involved in the campaign, which included only quality assurance, or Q.A., workers, said Microsoft's neutral stance was a relief. "It was nothing short of an absolute gift," said Autumn Mitchell, an active union worker, in an interview last month.
In another sign that unionization is gaining ground in the games industry, workers at a Boston studio owned by Activision announced last week that they had filed a petition to hold union elections.< /p>
Two other Activision studios have already voted to unionize — one out of
The result, involving about 300 employees, is one of the biggest victories for the labor movement at a major American technology company.
The unions won one of their biggest victories at a US tech company on Tuesday, gaining a foothold among about 300 employees at a Microsoft-owned video game maker.
< p class="css-at9mc1 evys1bk0 ">The Communications Workers of America, which will represent employees, announced the result, and Microsoft released a statement acknowledging the result."We look forward to engaging in good religious negotiations as we work toward a collective bargaining agreement," the company said. Microsoft has no other unionized workers.
The unionization movement at the video game manufacturer, Z eniMax Media, which Microsoft acquired for approximately $7.5 billion in a 2021 deal, did not involve a conventional union election held by the National Labor Relations Board.
>Instead, the company allowed workers to express their preferences in two ways: they could sign a union authorization card, which some have started to do in November, or they could vote anonymously via an open online platform for most of December.
The process was more efficient and less controversial than the ahead of a typical labor council election, which can involve extensive legal wrangling.
Microsoft has agreed to remain neutral throughout the labor campaign, avoiding meetings and anti-union messages in which many enter enterprises engage. The concessions came as the company tried to appease antitrust regulators reviewing its proposed roughly $70 billion acquisition of video game maker Activision Blizzard. each other in ways we never could without a union,” Skylar Hinnant, a worker involved in the organizing campaign, said in a statement.
When workers at a sprawling Staten Island Amazon warehouse pushed to organize last year, the company fought the effort aggressively. The union won in April, but Amazon disputed the results. Apple also sought to persuade retail workers not to unionize, although workers at two stores voted to do so.
ZeniMax employees involved in the campaign, which included only quality assurance, or Q.A., workers, said Microsoft's neutral stance was a relief. "It was nothing short of an absolute gift," said Autumn Mitchell, an active union worker, in an interview last month.
In another sign that unionization is gaining ground in the games industry, workers at a Boston studio owned by Activision announced last week that they had filed a petition to hold union elections.< /p>
Two other Activision studios have already voted to unionize — one out of
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