It’s been a tough time for Activision Blizzard employees as they grapple with sexual harassment scandals, a landmark takeover by Microsoft, and textbook examples of corporate union busting. Then last week, the gaming giant’s managing director, Brian Bulatao, sent an email to all US employees demanding they return to the office in June after more than two years of working from home for the pandemic.
“Effective immediately, we are lifting our vaccine mandate for all US employees,” Bulatao wrote in the message, which was leaked by Jessica Gonzalez, a former Activision Blizzard engineer and current labor organizer for the ABK Workers Alliance. “This means that employees no longer need to be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 in order to return to the office.”
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Employees raised concerns about the plan, which would make returning to work especially unsafe for immunocompromised staff. Activision-Blizzard has nearly 10,000 employees, though they’re spread across a variety of global offices. But scrapping vaccine mandates and other tactics to slow the spread of COVID-19 struck some workers as short-sighted and brazen. So on April 1, the ABK Workers Alliance Announced their intention to organize a virtual strike.
Bulatao retracted his message shortly after, stating that individual studios could choose whether or not to apply a vaccination mandate, but members of the ABK Workers Alliance felt the response was unsatisfactory.
“As soon as we put in place our demands and intent to pull out, leaders responded immediately and announced that they would allow individual locations to enforce their own vaccination policies,” said Kate Anderson, quality assurance evaluator at Activision. “This shows us the power of collective action.”
At least 117 employees, including Anderson, proceeded today with that planned virtual walkout, demanding that the company make work from home an option for all employees and reinstate the vaccination mandate for all studios that have not yet taken this action. According to a Blizzard engineer, four studies have reinstated vaccination requirements, including Snow storm.
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As Activision Blizzard goes through a tumultuous period, QA testers at Raven Software, the Activision Blizzard department that works primarily on “Call of Duty,” have formed the first union at a major US gaming company, Game Workers Alliance. Unsurprisingly, the company did not voluntarily recognize the 34-member unit, meaning they will have to make an election through the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB).
“We are proud to stand before the NLRB as we enjoy overwhelming support for our union and know that together we will obtain the formal legal recognition we have earned,” the union, working with the Communication Workers of America (CWA), it said in a statement at the time.
Anderson believes unionization would help in situations like developing a return-to-the-office plan.
“I think it’s incredibly important to consult with employees when making important decisions like this, especially when it affects employee health and safety,” Anderson told TechCrunch. “With a union, we could have a seat at the table.”
Other big tech companies like Facebook, Microsoft and Amazon have instituted flexible work policies, allowing employees to work from home at least a few days a week.
“Many of us have been working from home effectively since 2020,” Anderson said. “We have seen other companies implement hybrid models for remote work and work in the office and largely allow their employees to choose what is best for them. There’s no reason ABK can’t do the same.”
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