Microsoft Game Testers Boost Union Ranks at Company to 1,000
- Company’s union-friendly posture helped make organizing easier
- Feat could encourage efforts to unionize other gaming workers
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About 600 video game testers at Microsoft Corp.’s Activision Blizzard studios have unionized, more than doubling the size of labor’s foothold at the software giant, according to the Communications Workers of America.
The achievement, which brings the unionized workforce within Microsoft to roughly 1,000, was possible partly thanks to Microsoft’s labor-friendly posture. Unlike most US tech giants, the company declined to campaign against organizing efforts and agreed to voluntarily recognize and negotiate with the group if it secured majority support.