The Communication Workers of America announced today that over 450 workers at Activision Blizzard who’ve worked on the Diablo franchise, have voted to unionize. According to the CWA, the unit includes a wide swathe of workers across the company, including developers, artists, engineers and more. Microsoft has also recognized the union.
Blizzard staff speaking about the union vote noted the potential workplace problems that the union vote would avert. Most recently, Microsoft laid off over 9,000 employees, which included staff at Blizzard. Jason Justice, president of CWA Local 9510 — one of the chapters under which the Blizzard members would be organizing — said, “What’s happening here is part of a much larger story about turning the tide in an industry that has long overlooked its labor. Entertainment workers across film, television, music, and now video games are standing together to have a seat at the table.”
Kelly Yeo, one of the organizing committee members and Team 3 Game Produce on Diablo, said in a statement, “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. I am overjoyed that we have formed a union—this is just the first step for us joining a movement spreading across an industry that is tired of living in fear. We are ready to begin fighting for real change alongside our Diablo colleagues.”
The CWA reports that this is one of the largest wall-to-wall unions at Microsoft’s studios, which are quickly growing in union representation. Last year, the World of Warcraft team voted to unionize, followed by the Overwatch team, Raven Software’s QA team, as well as several staff at ZeniMax and Bethesda. Most recently, Blizzard’s Story and Franchise Development team has voted to unionize.