More than 450 developers from Blizzard's Diablo team voted to unionize under the Communications Workers of America and will be represented by CWA Locals 9510 (Irvine), 1118 (Albany), and 6215 (Austin). The union covers designers, engineers, artists, and support staff. Microsoft, Blizzard's parent company, has recognized the union. The studio's Story and Franchise Development team also voted to unionize earlier. Workers cited repeated mass layoffs, pervasive uncertainty, and fear of sudden termination as primary motivations. Personal incidents, such as badge access being denied after layoffs, illustrated the atmosphere driving the effort. The union aims to provide protections and collective power against industry instability.
With every subsequent round of mass layoffs, I've witnessed the dread in my coworkers grow stronger because it feels like no amount of hard work is enough to protect us,
This is just the first step for us joining a movement spreading across an industry that is tired of living in fear.
The day after the third round of mass layoffs, I walked into the office, and when I tried to open the door to the cafeteria, my badge was denied. For a moment, I wondered if getting breakfast was how I'd find out I was part of that round,
None of us should have to live with that constant worry that we might be let go at the drop of a hat.
#blizzard-entertainment #unionization #communications-workers-of-america #video-game-industry #mass-layoffs
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