The administration at Raven Software, the Activision Blizzard subsidiary that develops Call of Duty video games, has reportedly been making an attempt to persuade its staff to vote in opposition to unionization. According to The Washington Post, the Raven administration has been sending out messages and holding city corridor conferences forward of the election deadline on May twentieth. 

During a gathering held on April twenty sixth, firm management urged that unionization won’t solely impede sport growth, but additionally have an effect on promotions and advantages. After that assembly, The Post says administration despatched staff an e mail with a message that is extra direct to the purpose: “Please vote no.” The Raven staff the publication talked to mentioned the corporate’s efforts had been ineffective, although, and that they nonetheless voted sure for unionization. 

This saga started late final yr when Raven instantly laid off round a 3rd of the group’s QA testers after months of promising higher compensation. Activision Blizzard staff staged a weeks-long strike in assist of the QA staff, and unionization efforts began on the identical time. Since then, Activision has been making an attempt to dissuade staff from forming a union. 

Activision VP of QA Chris Arends reportedly informed group members in a Slack assembly {that a} “union doesn’t do anything to help us produce world-class games, and the bargaining process is not typically quick, often reduces flexibility, and can be adversarial and lead to negative publicity.” The National Labor Relations Board granted the standard assurance testers’ permission to carry a union vote in April, although, and staff have been sending of their ballots by mail over the previous month. We’ll quickly discover out if Activision’s alleged union-busting efforts are efficient quickly sufficient: The NLRB will probably be counting the ballots through video convention on May twenty third.