Union Group Accuses Activision Blizzard Of Posting “Anti-Union Propaganda” In Slack

Once again, Activision Blizzard is being accused of attempting to stop the formation of a union – this time the one that will be voted on by QA testers at Blizzard Albany. On October 18, the company’s new Chief Communication Officer Lulu Chen Meservey, reportedly posted a message on the company’s Slack. The message, according to a complaint filed by the Communication Workers of America with the National Labor Relations Board, consists of “anti-union propaganda” that effectively claims that workers bargaining for raises and bonuses through unions see slower results. The post, shared in a screengrab on Twitter, goes on to state that this has been the case with Raven who has only had three sessions since the union was certified mostly because of the union canceling sessions.

Some other, familiar talking points seen during Raven’s attempt to unionize earlier in the year are also seen in the screenshot. This includes the argument that the company “disagree[s] that a handful of employees should get to decide for everyone else on the future of the entire Albany-based Diablo team”. The company’s apparent preference is for “a direct dialog between company and employees”. The tweet that this screenshot was shared on also included a second screenshot with a message stating that “only certain people can post” in the channel the message was allegedly shared in.

New Activision Blizzard union bust just dropped. The irony of the communications channel being locked and they’re still using the “we’d like a direct communication” line. Clown show 🤡 how dare you undermine Game Workers Alliance when ABK refuses to bargain in good faith. pic.twitter.com/aIsBVtdaO5

— Jessica Gonzalez💙✨(she/her) BOOnion lady 👻 (@_TechJess) October 19, 2022

According to Polygon, the complaint being filed is the fourth “ongoing complaint filed with the NLRB” in the last two years. The CWA claims that the message is “anti-union” and violates the workers’ rights. Since Blizzard Albany did win the right to vote on a union, they’ll be doing so soon and have their ballots counted on November 18, so we’ll see how the strategy works out for Blizzard.

Note: Activision Blizzard is still under investigation by the state of California for serious harassment charges. CEO Bobby Kotick is alleged to have known about such actions within his company – and performed some himself – and shielded the perpetrators from consequences.