CODE-CWA Newsletter: February 4

CODE-CWA Newsletter: February 4

“We are proud to file with the NLRB as we enjoy supermajority support for our union and know that together, we will gain the formal legal recognition we have earned.” - Game Workers Alliance (CWA).

Happy Black History Month! Lots have happened since our last newsletter came out so here’s a brief update. Ballots went out on Monday to certify the New York Times Tech Guild with the NewsGuild-CWA. They are currently voting to become the largest union of tech workers with bargaining rights in the country. Show your solidarity by tweeting your support using the hashtag #TechGuildYes.

Activision Blizzard denied voluntary union recognition for the Raven QA workers who formed the Game Workers Alliance (CWA) in spite of their supermajority support. But the fight is far from over. Game Workers Alliance (CWA) filed with the NLRB and will move to a vote in the upcoming weeks so stay tuned. The Communications Workers of America (CWA ) also requested that the Securities and Exchange Commission investigate “inaccurate and misleading disclosures” in filings related to the proposed acquisition of Activision Blizzard by Microsoft.

2022 is underway and there is a lot of activism to look forward to in the year ahead. CWA Next Generation penned an amazing piece on organizing workers at tech companies and interviewed Gabby, a member of EveryAction Workers Union (CWA). In the article, Gabby mentioned her time organizing with CODE-CWA to win workplace protections and benefits, and declared that her union work made her life better. That statement warmed our hearts and we want to reiterate that CWA is ready to help and organize with you. Believe us. Reach out!

Finally, we’re HIRING! CODE-CWA and the Alphabet Workers Union - CWA are looking for talented Campaign Leads and Senior Campaign Leads for our growing team. These are fantastic opportunities for seasoned union organizers looking to drive transformational change in tech, game development, and digital industries.

Events

On February 5th join us for an organizer training at 10 AM PST where we talk about union basics, the CWA organizing models, and some key ways to connect with co-workers through organizing. You can also attend our class onbuilding a committeeon February 12th at 1 PM PST. Check our calendar for future events.

Our friends over at Mijente, the team that successfully launched the #NoTechForICE campaign, are recruiting students for their 5-part course: Tech Wars: Building the force against surveillance and policing in the digital world. You can sign up here.

Worker News

CWA Raven Software Union Moves to Vote Absent Activision Blizzard Recognition

In response to Activision Blizzard choosing to not voluntarily recognize Game Workers Alliance (CWA) in spite of their supermajority support, the union is moving to file a vote with the NLRB. Activision Blizzard is trying to thwart their efforts by splitting up the employees. Former chairman of the NLRB said, “the union would have a decent case to make that by doing this on the heels of a request for recognition and on the heels of all this union organizing activity, that this was somehow unlawful, intended to kill the union strength,” said Liebman. “I would say that having seen these kinds of things many times, that there’s possibly more afoot here than meets the eye.” Despite pressure from the company, GWA remains unfazed as Onah Rongstad, a QA tester at Raven said, “so long as we are testing, we are a unit that is linked by our function within the studio. Our solidarity won’t be broken by something like reorganization.” Read more on the Washington Post.

CWA Calls for SEC to Investigate Activision Blizzard Disclosures

Activision Blizzard (ABK) has filed an agreement and plan of merger with Microsoft as well as form 8-K in which it denies any ongoing strike at the company, unionization efforts by employees, and having any unfair labor complaints issued against the company. The Communications Workers of America have challenged the claims by Activision Blizzard in their submission and have urged the Securities and Exchange Commission to investigate and take action. Specifically, workers at Raven (a subsidiary of Activision) were on strike at the time of filing, ABK had already acknowledged distribution of CWA union authorization cards in a company wide email, and CWA has an ongoing complaint (for union busting and worker intimidation) with the national labor relations board against the company. These facts contradict the ABK submission. "Activision makes a series of statements in its Agreement and Plan of Merger that are clearly contradicted by available evidence, and others that omit key information, thus rendering them misleading,” said Shane Larson, CWA Senior Director of Government Affairs and Policy. Read more here and on Games Industry.

CWA’s New York Times Tech Guild Union Vote Happening

Every worker deserves a union. Over 600 tech workers at the New York times are currently voting to become the largest union of tech workers with bargaining rights in the country. The NYT Tech Guild (NewsGuild-CWA) is paving the way for tech worker organizing and we support them and can’t wait until they officially become members of the Communications Workers of America family. This historic vote comes after a series of union-busting tactics from the New York Times including ordering its employees not to share images demonstrating support of unionizing tech workers and excluding union staff from federal holidays like Juneteenth. Investors also spoke out on the tech worker union effort at The New York Times, urging the executives to stop union-busting and respect their workers’ right to organize. Read more on Bloomberg.

Gaming Companies Never Unionize. Call of Duty Developers Did.

Quality Assurance testers at Raven decided to unionize their department; three days later, the company decided to dissolve their department and split up the employees. According to Onah Rongstad, a Raven QA tester in GWA, “the planning of it and the timing however, makes me a little suspicious. It unfortunately seems to me that the embedding of testers — that plan — was more of a union-busting effort than a genuine effort.” In December QA testers at Raven were made full time employees, but twelve people were laid off in the process. The layoffs instigated many weeks of strike and protest. Although the company wants to split up the QA testers and have a company wide unionization vote, GWA feels they will have more success if they start with the QA testers alone. Read more on Protocol.

Activision Employees On Restructuring “Union-Busting is their Goal”

QA testers at Raven were on an almost seven week long strike when they decided to unionize with CWA and form the Game Workers Alliance (CWA). They decided to stop their strike three days later as a show of good faith. The day the strike was stopped however, the company organized a meeting of QA testers with HR. In the meeting the testers were told that they were going to be split up across the company in an effort to restructure, but workers feel this is just another union busting effort. According to CWA Organizing Director Tom Smith, “this announcement, which came three days after Raven QA workers publicly requested recognition of their union – the Game Workers Alliance (CWA) – is nothing more than a tactic to thwart Raven QA workers who are exercising their right to organize. When management uses meaningless buzzwords like ‘alignment,’ ‘synergy,’ and ‘reorganization,’ they are sending a message to workers: ‘We make all the decisions, we have all the power.’ Workers organize to have a voice at work to rectify these power imbalances. ” GWA plans to move forward regardless and will file a petition with the National Labor Relations Board. Read more on Inverse.

This Week in History

February 3, 1941 – U.S. Supreme Court upholds the Wages and Hours (later Fair Labor Standards) Act banning child labor and establishing the 40-hour workweek.

February 4, 1913 – Rosa Parks, whose refusal to give up her bus seat to a white man launched the 1955 Montgomery, Ala., bus boycott and the birth of the civil rights movement, is born in Tuskegee, Ala.

Song of the Week

Surface Pressure by Jessica Darrow from Encanto

But wait

If I could shake the crushing weight of expectations

Would that free some room up for joy

Or relaxation, or simple pleasure?

Instead we measure this growing pressure

Keeps growing, keep going

'Cause all we know is

Pressure like a drip, drip, drip that'll never stop, whoa

Pressure that'll tip, tip, tip 'til you just go pop, whoa-oh-oh