Last Summer, accusations were made against Activision Blizzard in regard to labor violations that were made during employees’ attempts to officially unionize within the company. These allegations prompted filing from the Communication Workers of America (CWA) which was then followed up by an investigation by the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB). That investigation has now come to a conclusion with the NLRB officially filing claim charge against Activision Blizzard for allegedly illegally surveying employees and violating labor laws by potentially shutting down company communication channels. While a charge was made due to the investigation, the NLRB at the same time dismissed another claim where the company violated Section 7 Laws when they allegedly shut down a chat during an all-hands meeting the previous year..
According to the NLRB, two specific times have been officially documented for the claim. The first goes back to July 2022 when employees staged walkout due to the Supreme Court overturning Roe V Wade. The employees during this walkout demanded protections from the ever growing anti-abortion laws as well as labor-neutrality commitment from Activision Blizzard. The claim states that the company allegedly illegally surveilled the employees “through managers and security.” The second charge is in regards to the company allegedly threatening to remove access to specific communication channels in which employees were “discussing wages, hours, and working conditions.”
As we already mentioned, the third charge, which was related to the company allegedly shutting down an all hands chat where employees “were discussing wages, hours and working conditions,” was dismissed by the NLRB in their investigation and has not been filed in the new claims. According to IGN, the chief administrative officer Brian Bulatao informed all of the employees that they were shutting down all future hands-on meetings due to the recent one becoming too toxic. Apparently, Bulatao stated that those in the chat used the meeting as a chance to “disparage the work of the Diablo Immoral team and others.”
According to the publication Reuters, spokeswoman from the NLRB stated that the will move forward and prosecute if Activision Blizzard does not settle, “The agency will issue a complaint against the company involving employees of its subsidiary Blizzard Entertainment Inc based in California and three other states.” Activision Blizzard’s labor violations were given a major spotlight in the public after the State of California filed a lawsuit against the company over their workplace environment and harassment allegations. This, along with the many, many stories that were coming out from current and former employees caused a massive backlash against the company from both the video game community and the industry. These legal continued with the aforementioned attempts by the employees to unionize, which Activision Blizzard allegedly has been trying to quell from within their own company.