Activision Lawyers Call Union Workers "Footloose Whiners”

It was revealed last month that Activision-owned studio Raven Software, a.k.a. one of the Call of Duty teams, would be forming a workers union. Named the Game Workers Alliance Union, it’s set to be the second video game union to exist in the United States, the first of its kind at a publicly traded video game publisher, and at the time of its announcement, several dozen employees had voted in favour of it.

For anyone not in the loop, this is a very good thing to be happening. Last year, Activision had multiple lawsuits filed against them due to a number of shocking allegations within the company, including sexual harassment claims, the existence of a “frat-boy culture”, and unfair labour practices. 

Now, as reported by GameRant, Reed Smith, a law firm which is currently representing Activision Blizzard in its National Labor Regulations Board hearing, is being ripped to shreds online for its infuriating descriptions of union members. This information was first shared on Twitter by Jessica Gonzalez, a senior quality engineer who used to work for Activision Blizzard. 

“I am losing my f**king mind at this actual post from Activision Blizzard’s law firm representing them in the NLRB HEARING,” she wrote, attaching a slide from a presentation, which lists of the “types of employees unions exploit.” Reportedly, the presentation was about ways that employers can stop their employees from forming or joining unions. 

As you can see, it’s a whole mess. From “lazy” to “whiner”, to “anti-establishment” and “inefficient”, the descriptions illustrate quite clearly what the law firm’s stance is on union members, and it's not a positive one. Needless to say, it’s really not a good look for Activision to be associated with them, especially when they’re already in boiling hot water for the allegations within the company. 

Despite Microsoft’s acquisition of Activision being on the horizon, obviously there’s still a lot to work out when it comes to the treatment of the company’s employees, both in terms of making up for the past, and how to move forward. It remains to be seen how this will be done.