Union files new complaint with NLRB – The Hollywood Reporter

As the Communications Workers of America continues to fight to establish its first union within Activision Blizzard, the labor giant has filed a new unfair labor practices charge against the company.
The CWA, which is currently trying to form a union at the company’s subsidiary Raven Software representing quality assurance workers, filed a lawsuit alleging that the video game holding company “threatened employees not to discuss issues regarding pay hours [sic] and working conditions on Slack.
According to the union, the incident leading to the incident involved an employee posting an article on a department’s Slack channel about the California Department of Fair Employment and Housing’s ongoing lawsuit alleging misconduct. sexual abuse and discriminatory hiring practices at Activision Blizzard while claiming that the company “continues to show lack”. concern for the welfare of employees. The worker then called on other workers to “hold the company accountable,” in accordance with the CWA. The union said it was unable to discuss details of the alleged threat at this time.
The union says the alleged behavior violates sections of the national labor relations law protections relating to “concerted activities” to form a union or “take steps for the benefit or protection of each other”, such as talking to each other about wages and working conditions. The Hollywood Reporter has contacted Activision Blizzard for comment.
This is the second unfair labor practice charge the CWA has filed against the Call of Duty maker – in December the union claimed the company had made “coercive statements”, attempting to prevent workers from participating in walkouts and organizing activities. This matter is still open and subject to investigation.
Meanwhile, on April 22, after a debate between the union and the company over whether the Raven Software Group had an appropriate bargaining unit and whether an election could be held after an organizational restructuring of the department, an NLRB regional director ruled that the union’s proposed bargaining unit was legitimate and a union election could take place, setting the stage for the election to take place on May 23.
This labor crisis comes against the backdrop of Microsoft’s impending acquisition of Activision Blizzard for $68.7 billion, a deal that was approved by Activision Blizzard shareholders on Thursday. While regulators have yet to clear the deal, the acquisition is expected to take place in the fiscal year ending June 30, 2023.