When there is a controversy regarding your company, you can try to put out the fire, or at least try not to fan it. Activision believes in a third way. The one to make things worse. In response to the controversy over the layoffs last week, which was followed by the controversy over the alleged sexual abuse cover-ups, which in turn emanates from the previous one due to the very existence of the abuse and also from Blizzard’s problems, that we remember now they are the same company, although the brands are separated, a new episode joins. Brian Bulatao, Managing Director at Activision Blizzard, has sent an internal email to employees asking them not to join a union.
Brian Bulatao is not exactly known for his great administration at the head of Activision-Blizzard, as in fact he was hired less than a year ago by the company, but he is known for his political position in the administration of ex-president Trump, in which militated as the second in command of the Secretary of State (his equivalent in Spain would be the Minister of the Interior) and, as reported by Kotaku, the “attack dog” of the administration, lobbying in the case of the investigation of the Trump administration’s arms sales to Saudi Arabia. Here is the content of the email that Bulatao has sent to all Activision-Blizzard employees:
— Jessica Gonzalez ?? #WeAreRaven (@BlizzJess) December 10, 2021
The email is a desperate attempt to keep employees from joining a union on the grounds of the company’s “hard work” in “creating a more inclusive, encouraging and rewarding environment.” Much of the email is dedicated to scratching the back of the company itself and its great efforts that it is doing to curb abuse and the possibilities of the employees themselves to comment on any problem to superiors, despite the fact that these complaints do not seem to be having much effect. However, the important part of the email is the central one, with an implicit threat to workers who wish, in light of all this news, to join a union.
“As you may have seen yesterday, there was a communication from the Communications Workers of America (CWA) asking employees to sign and send union authorization letters.” the email says. CWA is America’s leading union. “I want to be clear about this: Activision Blizzard leaders support your rights, under the National Labor Relations Act, to make your own decision to join a union or not.” The email goes on to suggest to workers that “consider the consequences of your signature” since the document is binding and transfers the negotiation rights of their employment contracts, an obvious intimidation attempt to persuade workers under the idea that they could not negotiate anything directly, despite the fact that direct negotiation is not working as we comment on this news. The union ABK has declared “We have been waiting 6 days without the leadership (of Activision Blizzard) has recognized our only demand”
“Achieving our workplace culture aspirations will best occur through active, transparent dialogue between leaders and employees that we can act upon quickly.”
We invite ABK to honor this statement. We have waited 6 days without leadership acknowledging our one demand.
— ABetterABK ???? ABK Workers Alliance (@ABetterABK) December 11, 2021
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