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The Call of Duty developer’s management team is sending anti-union messages ahead of a crucial employee vote on the company’s future.
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Raven Software, one of the development teams responsible for producing Call of Duty content under ActivisionBlizzard umbrella, had a tough few months. After it became clear that the company’s quality assurance staff were being treated extremely poorly by management, word of unionization came in and the company then started a feud with its publisher over what the future held for him.
Despite Activision Blizzard’s best efforts, Raven Software’s QA team is currently voting on unionization organized by the National Labor Relations Board, with which the company has been in contact. According to the latest information from Raven staff, however, management is still actively trying to cast doubt on these efforts through ongoing anti-union messaging.
After it became clear that Raven Software QA employees were officially unionizing, Activision Blizzard appears to have doubled down on union busting correspondence. Raven’s Anonymous Developers told The Washington Post that company management sent messages suggesting union employees would be ignored when it comes to benefits and promotions, telling them to “please vote no. ” during the vote.
Generally speaking, Raven Software management seems to share this sentiment with its counterpart at Activision Blizzard, where Activision’s vice president recently posted union-busting messages on the company’s official Slack channel. Unionized AQ staff have described management’s attempt to cover their tracks as “disappointing and ineffective” and say they voted for the NLRB ballot, which is due to end on May 20 with a live video conference documenting the count.
It’s worth remembering that the NLRB was only contacted after Activision Blizzard refused to recognize Raven’s QA unionization. Speaking to The Washington Post, Raven staff said the mere fact that Activision would work so hard to stop unionization attempts is proof that a union was needed in the first place. In the meantime, Activision Blizzard says a direct relationship with individual team members would be the “best route to achieving individual and corporate goals.”
Of course, Activision Blizzard has a long history of promoting anti-union messages. In late 2021, an Activision executive sent an anti-union email to employees that appears to have correctly assessed the situation the company would find itself in a few months later. However, despite Activision Blizzard’s attempts to prevent Raven Software from unionizing, everything seems to indicate that the vote is finally in the affirmative.
Source: Washington Post
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