Hundreds of Activision quality assurance employees are joining the Communications Workers of America (CWA). The union includes approximately 600 Activision central quality assurance employees in three locations: Austin, Texas; Eden Prairie, Minn.; and El Segundo, California. This makes the union, called Activision Quality Assurance United (CWA), the largest group of unionized video game workers in the United States
The final vote results in 390 “yes” votes and eight “no” votes, a CWA representative told Polygon.
“We focused on the fact that quality assurance and customer service are the lowest paying jobs in this industry and are often disparaged either within the industry or by customers,” Kara Fannon, QA tester and member of Activision’s organizing committee, told Polygon. “It’s easy for people to say to QA, ‘Oh, I found a bug,’ even though we’ve logged tens of thousands of bugs. So why is QA [unionizing], as opposed to other people in the industry? We have the weakest protections at the moment and we want to make sure we are strong so our work can continue as before – we want to support these games and work really hard on them.”
Activision Quality Assurance United – CWA members work on games published by Activision Publishing, including franchises such as Call of Duty, Crash Bandicoot and Tony Hawk Pro Skater. The group joins unionized Microsoft and Activision Blizzard employees at Blizzard Albany, Raven Software and ZeniMax.
The Blizzard Albany and Raven Software unions were brought under Microsoft with the company’s $68.7 billion merger with Activision Blizzard. Previously, ZeniMax Workers United was the video game industry’s largest group of QA employees at Microsoft and other companies in the United States, with more than 300 employees.
Like the organizing efforts at ZeniMax, Activision’s QA employees were reportedly not exposed to the union-busting tactics allegedly used during Blizzard Albany and Raven Software’s union campaigns. That’s because Microsoft signed a labor neutrality agreement with CWA in 2022, which is essentially a contract that says Microsoft must remain neutral in all union interactions. Agreements like this are not common, Risa Lieberwitz, a professor of labor and employment law at Cornell’s School of Industrial Labor and Relations and academic director of IRL’s The Worker Institute, told Polygon in 2023 after ZeniMax’s union victory.
“With the neutrality agreement that Microsoft signed with CWA, it’s a lot easier now,” Fannon said. “We don’t have to worry about any union-busting tactics. Microsoft ensured that all managers were trained in neutrality. We knew that if we encountered union busting, we could raise it to get it addressed.”
Polygon has reached out to Microsoft for comment.
The other positive point is that neither Activision’s QA staff nor Microsoft management have to go through the union election process at the National Labor Relations Board, which can sometimes take a while. Instead, since February 22, Activision’s QA employees have been voting using either a union authorization card (a physical or digital document indicating union approval) or a confidential vote through an online portal.
Fannon added that the next step for the union is to begin negotiations with Microsoft. But first, members are surveyed to take stock of what issues are most important to the group. “One great thing about a union is that it’s a democratic process,” Fannon said. “People have different ideas about what they want. Some things that are pretty common among people are the desire for better pay – here in Minnesota we don’t make what you would call a living wage.”
Fannon also pointed to better career development opportunities, increased benefits and job security. Layoffs have created a major crisis for workers in the video game industry in recent years, and Activision’s QA staff are also considering their future; Better severance packages are important. A union cannot always prevent layoffs, but it does give workers the opportunity to negotiate their future. in February, Sega of America’s union workers 18 jobs were saved and negotiate better compensation for those laid off. At Microsoft, ZeniMax QA union members were spared from a massive layoff of 1,900 people in January. While union status may not have been a factor, some union members believe it was.
Once it is clear what union members want to fight for, they will begin negotiations that will result in the union and Microsoft going back and forth over a contract.
The news also means that Activision QA employees from across the country are united; Members meet people they might not otherwise have contact with. This camaraderie is strong, even outside of a contract – both in terms of workplace solidarity and as a way to inspire the industry.
“It’s nice to know that everyone knows about this and that people can be inspired to start their own unions,” Fannon said. “I was at a conference and there were some people there who belonged to Starbucks Workers United. They were chatting and I felt so inspired. And then I realized that maybe people feel that way about what we do. It didn’t really register how monumental it is. But it feels really good to be a part of it.”
