An appeal brought by Activision Blizzard to prevent Blizzard Albany’s QA employees from linking together was rejected by the US National Labor Relations Board (NLRB). gibiz Reportedly, the publisher attempted to argue that Blizzard Albany’s entire staff should vote for the merge effort rather than just the development studio’s QA team, but the NLRB disagreed.
The appeal was denied on November 30, as the NLRB found that Activision Blizzard presented “no serious issues to consider”. The NLRB’s decision read: “Testers have a separate department and separate supervision; perform a distinct function, using distinct skills; and have significantly lower wages than excluded employees”. here.
A spokesperson for Activision Blizzard told GIbiz: “We still believe that our entire Albany team should have the right to vote. This is fundamental fairness for all team members, based on how closely we work together. strict rules that Blizzard Albany operates and ensures that every employee has the right to choose.”
This is Activision Blizzard’s second attempt to obstruct the vote of QA testers, as they made a previous attempt back in October, this was also rejected by the NLRB. Activision Blizzard made similar moves to block a vote by Raven Software QA staff earlier this year. Original publisher waste their employees asked to form a union, who then approached the National Labor Relations Board to join. The appeal against the efforts of Raven QA staff is also negative by NLRB. Raven’s QA team then voted for unite by the vast majority, becoming the first such notable alliance at a US-based studio.
Activision Blizzard is currently the subject of several legal action, labor dispute and accusations of workplace harassment. Rock Paper Shotgun will continue to write about these issues and cover Activision Blizzard games as part of our commitment to topics that interest our readers. The latest news can always be found under Activating blizzard label.
