Activision Blizzard withheld raises from union activists

A report by the NLRB outlines how Activision Blizzard withheld raises from Raven Software staff, who were unionising.

A stunning report from the National Labor Relations Board, or NLRB, found that Activision Blizzard withheld pay raises from certain employees based on their union activity.

First reported by the Washington Post, the NLRB discovered that testers who worked at Activision Blizzard were offered pay raises up to $20 USD an hour, however, those same raises were denied to Raven Software QA testers, who voted to unionise earlier this year. Activision Blizzard states that this was because it “could not institute new pay initiatives at Raven” due to the union election.

As a result of these findings, Raven Software QA and Activision Blizzard will continue to negotiate future agreements. Should these negotiations fail, the NLRB can file a complaint or bring the case before a federal judge, however, it is highly unlikely that Activision Blizzard refuses to settle.

Overwatch 2 recently released to plenty of fanfare. Picture: Blizzard

“It’s a very preliminary win for the union at this point. It gives them a little bit of leverage,” said Wilma Liebman, a former chairman of the NLRB who spoke with the Washington Post. “It’s part of their tactics, you know, hit them wherever they can, to put pressure on the company in order to reach an agreement with them and to stop violating the law.”

According to the report, the Communications Workers of America, a union that represents workers in telecoms, media and customer service, amended its original complaint this past Monday, adding an allegation that the company continues to violate labour laws and withheld raises from Raven workers.

Activision Blizzard issued the following statement: “Due to legal obligations under the [National Labor Relations Act] requiring employers not to grant wage increases while an election was pending, we could not institute new pay initiatives at Raven because they would be brand new kinds of compensation changes, which had not been planned beforehand. This rule that employers should not grant these kinds of wage increases has been the law for many years.”

Activision Blizzard is currently awaiting results from government investigatory bodies worldwide, over its potential sale to Microsoft for nearly $100 billion AUD. Australia recently delayed its ruling, while Saudi Arabia approved it almost instantly.

Written by Junior Miyai on behalf of GLHF.