A supermajority of the 300 QA testers that work at ZeniMax Media have voted to form a union, a landmark vote that is creating the first union within Microsoft. The QA employees play a vital role in testing upcoming games that would include Starfield, Redfall, and other games throughout the publisher.
Following on from their prior commitment to maintain neutrality with regard to unionisation effort, Microsoft has already recognised the union.
A Microsoft representative confirmed the news to GamesIndustry.biz, saying, “In light of the results of the recent unionization vote, we recognize the Communications Workers of America as the bargaining representative for the Quality Assurance employees at ZeniMax. We look forward to engaging in good faith negotiations as we work towards a collective bargaining agreement.”
Communication Workers of America president Chris Shelton said, “Microsoft has lived up to its commitment to its workers and let them decide for themselves whether they want a union. Other video game and tech giants have made a conscious choice to attack, undermine, and demoralize their own employees when they join together to form a union. Microsoft is charting a different course which will strengthen its corporate culture and ability to serve its customers and should serve as a model for the industry and as a blueprint for regulators.”
Shelton’s pointed remarks somewhat ironically refer to Activision Blizzard, which Microsoft is in the process of trying to acquire in a huge $68.7 billion deal. Activision Blizzard has fought hard to restrict unionisation efforts at its studios, though this has not stopped QA testers at both Blizzard Albany and Raven Software forming earlier this year. There’s also a fresh effort by the 57 staff at the fittingly named Spellbreak developer Proletariat, who have recently been acquired by Blizzard.
It’s worth noting that Microsoft’s neutrality agreement was the tit-for-tat in exchange for the CWA supporting regulator approval for the acquisition of Activision Blizzard. Should the Activision Blizzard acquisition by Microsoft be approved by regulators, this would all mean that Microsoft has three different unions under its umbrella.
