ZeniMax Online QA Workers Are Forming A Union Under The CWA Banner
The ongoing efforts of Activision Blizzard’s QA employees to unionize is encouraging other employees in the video game industry to form unions of their own. QA workers at ZeniMax Online Studios and Bethesda Softworks have announced their plans to form a union under the Communication Workers of America. The union will represent around 300 QA workers from multiple studios and teams working on various titles, including Elder Scrolls Online and Fallout 76.
The ZeniMax Workers United will be the first and only worker union in Microsoft until they’re joined by the QA unions of Raven Software and Blizzard Albany if and when the Activision Blizzard merger pushes through. According to the union, their goals are fair treatment for their members, fair compensation, advancement opportunities, accountability, transparency, and a voice in decisions related to scheduling and workload.
Unlike Activision Blizzard, however, Microsoft isn’t actively trying to delay or stop the formation of the union. “So far, Microsoft has remained committed to staying neutral throughout this process,” tweeted ZeniMax Workers United. “As we vote over the next 4 weeks in our democratic election, we hope that you will support our journey towards building lasting positive change for workers, gamers & the industry as a whole.”
CWA President Chris Shelton also applauds Microsoft for remaining neutral throughout the unionization process, saying that, “The company is fulfilling the commitments they laid out in their labor principals earlier this year, while sending a resounding message to the video game industry: the right to freely and fairly make a choice about union representation should be in the hands of the workers, not management.”
Voting is expected to take place over the month with hopes that Microsoft will formally acknowledge the union once it’s been formed.
Today we, a majority of QA workers at ZeniMax, are proud to announce the launch of our union with @CWAunion. We are the first group of workers at Microsoft to formally unionize. We are empowered to advocate for ourselves & build a future where we can thrive alongside the company
— ZeniMax Workers United - CWA (@ZeniMaxWorkers) December 5, 2022
