According to a note posted yesterday on Proletariat Games' blog, Activision Blizzard is refusing to recognize the Proletariat Workers Alliance union for the Proletariat Games studio. And this, even though the union already has the support it needs.
A formal vote
With a formal vote by the National Labor Relations Board, the company first wants to find out the opinion of its employees. This would allow Activision Blizzard to ensure that everyone receives all the information and hears different points of view to become aware of the effects that introducing the union would have. In addition, everyone could express their opinion anonymously, which, according to the company, most employees would prefer.
Criticism followed promptly from the new union and described this procedure as "worker unfriendly". This is just a usual tactic of the company to avoid recognition. And they are not entirely wrong: Last year, QA teams in the studios Raven Software and Blizzard Albany of Activision Blizzard founded unions and in both cases the publisher forced them to go through the formal voting process instead of recognizing the unions.
