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Microsoft and unions

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Microsoft recognizes 7 trade unions representing 1,750 workers in the United States at its video game subsidiaries Activision Blizzard and ZeniMax Media. US workers have been vocal in opposing military and law-enforcement contracts with Microsoft. Bethesda Game Studios is unionized in Canada. Microsoft South Korea recognizes its union since 2017. German employees have elected works councils since 1998.

Canada

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Montreal studio of Bethesda Game Studios was certified on August 13, 2024, with support of Communications Workers of America Canada.[1] This follows the recent unionization of QA testers at ZeniMax, its parent company in the United States.[2]

Germany

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Microsoft Germany has 2,700 employees and 6 offices across Germany as of 2014. Employees are represented by local works councils and a central works council since 1998.[3]

United States

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Microsoft recognizes 7 video game unions[α] that represent 1,750 video game workers.[4] Microsoft like other tech companies, was historically resistant to unions and relied on temporary workers with lower pay and job security than regular employees. Microsoft shifted in 2014 when Brad Smith, the new general counsel at Microsoft was appointed. Smith had a more conciliatory approach towards regulation, including labor rights together with the new CEO Satya Nadella. In 2015, Microsoft instructed all large contractors to provide paid time off.[5]

When Microsoft announced its intent to acquire Activision Blizzard in a $70 billion deal in 2022, there was a pragmatic risk that Communications Workers of America (CWA) would oppose the acquisition if Microsoft did not recognize the ongoing union efforts at Activision.[5]

Microsoft signed a labor neutrality agreement with CWA to neither interfere with nor oppose unionization efforts of its workers including at its video game subsidiaries Activision Blizzard and ZeniMax Media. The neutrality agreement was a key condition for CWA to support Microsoft's acquisition of Activision Blizzard. After the acquisition, Microsoft inherited two small video game unions from subsidiaries Raven Software and Blizzard Albany. Post acquisition, Microsoft later on voluntarily recognized 5 video game unions at ZeniMax Studios and Activision Blizzard. 3 prior union drives at TaxSaver software and Lionbridge were not successful.

Historic union drives

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A small group of 18 agency contractors at TaxSaver software declared itself the "negotiating unit" in April 1999 and became union-dues paying members of Washington Alliance of Technology Workers.[6]: 372–373 

Joint employment law would require their bargaining unit to be recognized by both Microsoft and TaxSaver which neither did. Despite formally not engaging in collective bargaining, the TaxSaver unit saw wage increases. One year later Microsoft switched to H&R Block, resulting in a loss of jobs for the TaxSaver unit.[6]: 372–373 

38 software testers who were contracted by Lionbridge formed the union "Temporary Workers Alliance" in 2014. Microsoft explicitly did not negotiate with them, yet they instructed Lionbridge to provide at least 3 weeks of vacation for all contractors.[7] In 2016, Lionbridge announced layoffs, two months after the union ratified their first collective agreement. As part of the negotiations, the union had agreed to drop a joint employer case between them and Lionbridge and Microsoft.[8]

Activision Blizzard

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In May 2022, Quality Assurance (QA) testers of Activision Blizzard subsidiary Raven Software went public as "Game Workers Alliance" (GWA) with the support of Campaign to Organize Digital Employees-CWA and voted to unionize (19–2) in favor.[9] The National Labor Relations Board certified GWA as a union.[10][11]

Following the Raven QA team's successful unionization, the 20-member QA team of Blizzard Albany announced a unionization drive in July 2022 as GWA Albany.[12] The vote passed (14–0), forming the second union at an Activision Blizzard subsidiary.[13]

On March 8, 2024, 600 QA testers at 3 Activision studios in Austin, Texas, Eden Prairie, Minnesota and El Segundo, California formed the union "Activision Quality Assurance United-CWA" and voted to unionize (390–8) in favor, making it the largest video game union in the United States.[14][15]

In June 2024, an unfair labor practice was filed against Lionbridge by CWA alleging that the company illegally terminated the employment of 160 Activision software testers in Boise, Idaho, in retaliation for exercising their right to participate in concerted union activities. As part of the layoff, CWA also alleges that workers were required to sign an overly broad confidentiality agreement and an illegal waiver of certain rights protected by the National Labor Relations Act.[16]

On July 24, 2024, 500 artists, designers, engineers, producers, and quality assurance testers who work on World of Warcraft voted to unionize. This is the second "wall to wall" union (following Bethesda Game Studios) to represents all employees in a Microsoft bargaining unit, regardless of their job title.[4]

The same day, 60 QA testers at Blizzard's Austin office, who work on various games including Diablo 4 and Hearthstone, also voted to unionize and formed the union "Texas Blizzard QA United-CWA".[17]

ZeniMax

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300 QA testers at ZeniMax Studios voted to unionize as "ZeniMax Workers United/CWA" in January 2023. The QA testers review video games like Elder Scrolls Online. Among the issues they wish to improve are equitable pay, workplace communication and ending crunch time.[18] ZeniMax QA testers at the Texas and Maryland studios initiated a one-day strike on November 13, 2024, in response to the shift from remote-work to return-to-office policy and Microsoft's reliance on outsourcing.[19]

241 US employees at Bethesda Game Studios unionized as "OneBGS" on July 20, 2024. Its three studios are located in Austin/Dallas, Texas and Rockville, Maryland.[20] The bargaining unit includes artists, developers, and engineers; unlike its parent company ZeniMax, which exclusively represents QA testers.[21][22] on August 13, the fourth studio in Montreal, Canada was certified, with the support of Communications Workers of America Canada. This marks the first instance of "wall to wall" unions within Microsoft bargaining units.[21]

Military contracts

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Employees criticized Microsoft's bid of the JEDI cloud computing contracts in 2018. In February 2019, hundreds of Microsoft employees protested the company's war profiteering from a $480 million contract to develop virtual reality headsets for the United States Army.[23]

ICE contract

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100s of Microsoft employees protested their employers government contracts with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in June 2018.[24]

GitHub (subsidiary of Microsoft) had a $200,000 contract with ICE for the use of their on-site product GitHub Enterprise Server. This contract was renewed in 2019, despite internal opposition from many GitHub employees. In an email sent to employees, later posted to the GitHub blog on October 9, 2019, CEO Nat Friedman stated "The revenue from the purchase is less than $200,000 and not financially material for our company." He announced that GitHub had pledged to donate $500,000 to "nonprofit groups supporting immigrant communities targeted by the current administration."[25] In response, at least 150 GitHub employees signed an open letter re-stating their opposition to the contract, and denouncing alleged human rights abuses by ICE. As of November 13, 2019, five workers had resigned over the contract.[26][27][28]

The ICE contract dispute came into focus again in June 2020 due to the company's decision to abandon "master/slave" branch terminology, spurred by the George Floyd protests and Black Lives Matter movement.[29] Detractors of GitHub describe the branch renaming to be a form of performative activism and have urged GitHub to cancel their ICE contract instead.[30] An open letter from members of the open source community was shared on GitHub in December 2019, demanding that the company drop its contract with ICE and provide more transparency into how they conduct business and partnerships. The letter has been signed by more than 700 people.[31]

996.ICU

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On March 26, 2019, Chinese tech workers launched a public GitHub (owned by Microsoft) repository "996.ICU" protesting Chinese companies that have 996 working hour culture. "996.ICU" references 9am to 9pm, 6 days a week, ending up in the intensive care unit. In less than a week, over 200,000 users "starred" or liked the repository.[32] This repository has been described as the largest display of solidarity among tech workers.[33]

On April 18, 2019, employees at Microsoft and GitHub launched another GitHub repository in support of 996.ICU, which they believe was under threat of China censorship to ask Microsoft not to censor the original repository.[34]

South Korea

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In the Summer of 2017,[35] 370 workers (half of the total workforce) of Microsoft Korea (South Korea) formed The Microsoft Korea Worker's Union.[36] It is led by Lee Ok-Hyoung, and affiliated to the Korea Confederation of Trade Union.[37][β]

On November 24, 2021, 90% of the union membership voted to go on strike over long working hours and a 3.5% pay increase that was rejected by the union membership.[36]

See also

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Notes

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  1. ^ Game Workers Alliance (Raven Software)
    Game Workers Alliance Albany
    Activision Quality Assurance United-CWA
    ZeniMax Workers United/CWA
    OneBGS (Bethesda Game Studios)
    World of Warcraft
    Texas Blizzard QA United-CWA
  2. ^ ETNews claims MS Korea union formed in July 2017, while The Investor states it was formed in August 2017.

References

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  1. ^ "Bethesda Game Studios Workers Win Labour Board Certification, Officially Join CWA Canada". CWA Canada. August 16, 2024. Archived from the original on August 16, 2024. Retrieved August 19, 2024.
  2. ^ McEvoy, Sophie (June 27, 2024). "Bethesda Montreal files for unionisation". GamesIndustry.biz. Archived from the original on July 21, 2024. Retrieved July 21, 2024.
  3. ^ Richter, Isabel (September 1, 2014). "Microsoft Deutschland führt "Vertrauensarbeitsort" ein" [Microsoft Germany introduces "trusted workplace]. Microsoft Germany (in German). Archived from the original on August 20, 2024. Retrieved September 22, 2023.
  4. ^ a b Eidelson, Josh (July 24, 2024). "Microsoft's 'World of Warcraft' Gaming Staff Votes to Unionize". Bloomberg.com. Archived from the original on July 24, 2024. Retrieved July 24, 2024.
  5. ^ a b Scheiber, Noam (March 4, 2024). "Microsoft, the union-friendly tech titan | Analysis". The Seattle Times. Archived from the original on August 16, 2024. Retrieved August 16, 2024.
  6. ^ a b Van Jaarsveld, Danielle D. (April 2004). "Collective Representation Among High-Tech Workers at Microsoft and Beyond: Lessons from WashTech/CWA". Industrial Relations: A Journal of Economy and Society. 43 (2): 364–385. doi:10.1111/j.0019-8676.2004.00334.x. ISSN 0019-8676. Archived from the original on June 25, 2024. Retrieved July 21, 2024.
  7. ^ Eidelson, Josh; Kanu, Hassan (August 23, 2018). "Microsoft Bug Testers Unionized. Then They Were Dismissed". Bloomberg News. Retrieved June 26, 2024.
  8. ^ Levy, Nat (September 28, 2016). "Microsoft supplier Lionbridge laying off all its unionized workers". GeekWire. Retrieved June 23, 2024.
  9. ^ Orland, Kyle (January 21, 2022). "Members of Activision's Raven Software QA team form a union". Ars Technica. Archived from the original on January 22, 2022. Retrieved June 18, 2024.
  10. ^ Wood, Austin (May 23, 2022). "Activision Blizzard employees form first major NA games union, hope to inspire "growing movement of workers"". GamesRadar+. Archived from the original on June 14, 2022. Retrieved June 14, 2022.
  11. ^ Paul, Kari (May 23, 2022). "Activision Blizzard's Raven Software workers vote to form industry's first union". The Guardian. Archived from the original on June 14, 2022. Retrieved June 14, 2022.
  12. ^ Parrish, Ash (July 19, 2022). "Blizzard QA workers in Albany are organizing Activision's second union". The Verge. Archived from the original on August 1, 2022. Retrieved August 1, 2022.
  13. ^ Carpenter, Nicole (December 2, 2022). "Blizzard Albany becomes second unionized studio at Activision Blizzard". Polygon. Archived from the original on January 26, 2023. Retrieved February 11, 2023.
  14. ^ Carpenter, Nicole (March 8, 2024). "600 Activision QA workers unionize, Microsoft voluntarily recognizes". Polygon. Archived from the original on March 9, 2024. Retrieved June 18, 2024.
  15. ^ Parrish, Ash (March 9, 2024). "Activision QA workers form the largest US video game union yet". The Verge. Archived from the original on June 18, 2024. Retrieved June 18, 2024.
  16. ^ Reuben, Nic (June 12, 2024). "Activision QA supplier Lionbridge accused of retaliatory layoffs in "union busting" move". Rock, Paper, Shotgun. Archived from the original on June 12, 2024. Retrieved June 26, 2024.
  17. ^ Valentine, Rebekah (July 24, 2024). "World of Warcraft's Entire Development Team Has Officially Unionized". IGN. Archived from the original on August 6, 2024. Retrieved August 5, 2024.
  18. ^ Conditt, Jessica (January 3, 2023). "Microsoft is now the home of the video game industry's largest union". Engadget. Retrieved June 12, 2024.
  19. ^ Parrish, Ash (November 13, 2024). "Workers at Bethesda parent company strike over remote work policies". The Verge. Retrieved November 17, 2024.
  20. ^ Reuben, Nic (July 22, 2024). "Bethesda Game Studios developers 'ecstatic' to announce a 241-strong 'wall to wall' union". Rock, Paper, Shotgun. Archived from the original on August 20, 2024. Retrieved August 16, 2024.
  21. ^ a b Peters, Jay (July 19, 2024). "Bethesda Game Studios workers have unionized". The Verge. Archived from the original on August 19, 2024. Retrieved July 20, 2024.
  22. ^ Wilde, Tyler (July 20, 2024). "Bethesda Game Studios developers form 'wall to wall' union that includes artists, designers, and programmers". PC Gamer. Archived from the original on July 21, 2024. Retrieved July 21, 2024.
  23. ^ Wong, Julia Carrie (February 22, 2019). "'We won't be war profiteers': Microsoft workers protest $480m army contract". The Guardian. Archived from the original on February 23, 2019. Retrieved February 23, 2019.
  24. ^ Birnbaum, Emily (June 10, 2020). "Microsoft employees are pushing for change. Will it matter?". Protocol (news). Archived from the original on October 2, 2023. Retrieved June 26, 2022.
  25. ^ "GitHub and US Government developers". GitHub Blog. October 9, 2019. Archived from the original on March 22, 2021. Retrieved October 10, 2019.
  26. ^ "As GitHub's Conference Begins, Five Employees Resign Over ICE Contract". Vice News. November 13, 2019. Archived from the original on March 22, 2021. Retrieved November 15, 2019.
  27. ^ Ghaffary, Shirin (October 9, 2019). "GitHub is the latest tech company to face controversy over its contracts with ICE". Vox. Archived from the original on March 22, 2021. Retrieved November 15, 2019.
  28. ^ "Letter from GitHub employees to CEO about the company's ICE contract". The Washington Post. Archived from the original on March 22, 2021. Retrieved November 15, 2019.
  29. ^ "Microsoft's GitHub drops master-slave jargon". BBC News. June 15, 2020. Archived from the original on March 22, 2021. Retrieved July 1, 2020.
  30. ^ Hussain, Suhauna; Bhuiyan, Johana (June 13, 2020). "After GitHub CEO backs Black Lives Matter, workers demand an end to ICE contract". Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on March 22, 2021. Retrieved July 1, 2020.
  31. ^ Truong, Kevin (July 20, 2020). "The Open Source Community Is Calling on Github to 'Drop ICE'". Vice News. Archived from the original on March 22, 2021. Retrieved October 19, 2020.
  32. ^ Yang, Yingzhi (March 29, 2019). "Chinese developers use Github to protest against country's 996 work schedule". South China Morning Post. Archived from the original on March 31, 2019. Retrieved July 24, 2024.
  33. ^ Tan, JS (May 6, 2019). "Tech Workers Are Workers, Too". Jacobin Magazine. Archived from the original on August 20, 2024. Retrieved July 24, 2024.
  34. ^ Emerson, Sarah (April 22, 2019). "Microsoft Employees Support Chinese Developers Fighting for Fair Labor Practices". Vice News. Retrieved July 24, 2024.
  35. ^ Park, Ga-young (July 10, 2018). "Oracle Korea's reputation on the line with record-long strike". The Investor. Retrieved June 26, 2022.
  36. ^ a b "Microsoft Korea Workers' Union votes to strike over wages and disregard for workers' sacrifice during pandemic". UNI Global Union. Archived from the original on June 27, 2022. Retrieved June 26, 2022.
  37. ^ Kim, Jiseon (October 17, 2017). "South Korea Oracle Establishes Its First Labor Union". ETNEWS. Archived from the original on May 15, 2021. Retrieved June 26, 2022.
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