U.S. Labor Board Finds That Activision Blizzard Withheld Raises Over Unionization – IGN

Activision Blizzard — who announced that the unionized employees would not be receiving a pay rise given to 1,100 other QA workers in July — has maintained that it’s not an active decision made by itself but is instead a legal issue.

“Due to legal obligations under the [National Labor Relations Act] requiring employers not to grant wage increases while an election was pending, we could not institute new pay initiatives at Raven,” a spokesperson told The Washington Post.

Essentially, Activision Blizzard claims it legally wasn’t able to offer the employees a pay rise because they were in the midst of voting to unionize, as per Labor Board v. Exchange Parts Co., 375 U.S. 405 (1964). The company was found to be actively discouraging the union efforts, however, as it sent emails to employees that read: “Please vote no”.

It’s unclear how long the negotiations between the union and Activision Blizzard will go on, or how successful they will be for either side, but the move has already sparked others to follow suit. What is certain, however, is that Xbox boss Phil Spencer will recognize the union if Microsoft’s acquisition of Activision Blizzard goes through.

Ryan Dinsdale is an IGN freelancer. He’ll talk about The Witcher all day.

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