Nearly 2 months aft Activision Blizzard CEO Bobby Kotick announced the institution would yet statesman bargaining its archetypal national declaration with the Game Workers Alliance astatine Raven Software, unit astatine Blizzard Albany, presently moving connected Diablo IV, accidental the steadfast is backmost to trying to union-bust. They impeach Activision Blizzard of rehiring the instrumentality steadfast Reed Smith to undermine their ain organizing effort alternatively than voluntarily admit the company’s 2nd union.

“Instead of pursuing Microsoft’s pb and committing to a labour neutrality agreement, Activision has made the wide and conscious determination to contradict america our basal labour rights portion erstwhile again spending hundreds of thousands of dollars connected a union-busting firm,” Albany Game Workers Alliance, which is organizing for things similar amended pay, healthcare, and work/life balance, among different issues, wrote successful a property merchandise Wednesday. The radical says Activision Blizzard is re-enlisting the assistance of Reed Smith, an enactment that offers “union-avoidance” services, successful a “futile effort” to “delay recognition.” As the workers archer it, Reed Smith intends to impulse the National Labor Relations Board to contradict the idiosyncratic QA group’s close to unionize.

When asked for comment, the Call of Duty publisher didn’t accidental wherefore it had rehired the instrumentality steadfast Reed Smith oregon however overmuch it was paying, but it did corroborate it would erstwhile again propulsion for a studio-wide ballot connected unionization. “Given the important interaction this alteration could person for astir 150 radical successful Albany (formerly Vicarious Visions), we judge each worker successful Albany who works connected Diablo should person a nonstop accidental successful this decision; it should not beryllium made by less than 15% of employees,” institution spokesperson Rich George wrote successful an emailed statement.

It went on:

The squad based retired of the Albany determination is an integrated radical that shares a absorption connected the aforesaid crippled franchise and works connected related crippled features and functionality. These employees stock important commonalities successful their enactment and maintaining cohesiveness passim the analyzable crippled improvement and accumulation process is essential.

This is the same playbook the institution rolled retired past time erstwhile Raven Software archetypal sought to unionize. First it integrated QA unit straight into different disciplines wrong the wider workplace and aboriginal it argued that for this and different reasons the full workplace should ballot connected a national alternatively than conscionable those successful QA who already overwhelmingly supported it. Ultimately the NLRB sided with the workers, but it inactive delayed proceedings by months.

In the meantime, Activision Blizzard worked with Reed Smith, an planetary steadfast that boasted connected its website astatine the time of helping companies debar and combat unionization. It adjacent kept a PowerPoint Presentation on its website that included slides astir however unions sought to exploit lazy workers and strategies for persuading workers that unions were a atrocious idea. That presumption has since been removed.

Activision Blizzard’s renewed combat against unionization comes conscionable 2 months aft Microsoft, presently acceptable to get it for $69 billion, announced it would stay “neutral” connected national efforts moving forward. Part of a run to get regulatory support for the biggest tech acquisition successful history, it seemed similar it mightiness awesome a caller playbook for Activision arsenic well. Apparently not. The woody is expected to adjacent earlier June 2023.