Workers at Boston-based World of Warcraft Support studio Proletariat (also known as Blizzard Boston) is submitting their petition to the National Labor Relations Board and will not vote for a union. They announced the petition in late December, but withdrew it on Tuesday.
A representative for Communications Workers of America blamed management’s “confrontational tactics” for the petition to be withdrawn, claiming that the company held “a series of meetings that left the team disoriented. god and lose power, making a free and fair election impossible.”
The Union of Proletarian Workers is looking to secure the company’s current paid leave plan, as well as flexible remote options, healthcare benefits, and ensure transparency and diversity. are top priorities.
When the petition is withdrawn, workers at Proletariat will not vote for a union.
“We appreciate that CWA has unilaterally decided to withdraw its lawsuit in response to employee feedback,” VP of media relations Joe Christinat said in a statement to Polygon. “As we have stated, we welcome the opportunity for each employee to securely express their wishes through a secret vote. Our team at Proletariat does extraordinary work every day. They remain focused on working with their teams to continue making Proletariat a place where everyone can grow, mature and be part of a great team and culture.”
Dustin Yost, a software engineer at Proletariat, said in a statement via CWA that, initially, a majority of workers supported the union. The worker said “meetings that framed the conversation as a personal betrayal” to management affected that support. “While we are withdrawing our petition for union elections today and truly hope that management will prioritize addressing the concerns that prompted us to organize, I still believe that unions are the best way for workers in our industry to make sure our voices are heard,” says Yost.
Other workers, some of whom describe themselves as labor advocates, felt that the process was rushed—announced when the company was on holiday, followed by confusing, artistic communication. Proletariat user interface designer and user experience designer Kat Dolan told Polygon. Dolan argues about the characteristic in which management folds union efforts. She added that some workers felt “unsatisfied” with the process, saying that if they had been approached differently, things could have ended differently.
The Union of Proletarian Workers is expected to vote with the National Labor Relations Board – the same process that both crow software and Blizzard Albany’s QA Union went through. Activision Blizzard challenged the election in the case of both studios and sought to expand the proposed bargaining unit beyond QA testers.
Companies sometimes struggle to expand the size of a unit in order to reduce efforts to organize a union, to increase the probability of a failed union vote. But judgment of the NLRB in 2022 makes it easier for organizers to consolidate smaller groups within a company (known as micro-units), which leaves the company responsible for providing compelling evidence that a group should be open.
TTK has paid a lot unfair labor complaints against Activision Blizzard for their alleged union sabotage tactics; Activision Blizzard representatives have denied any wrongdoing.
Seth Sivak founded Proletariat in 2012 and is an independent studio, developing games like spell break and Line of legends until Activision Blizzard acquires the studio in 2022. Sivak is currently vice president of development at Blizzard Entertainment, overseeing Boston-based studio Proletariat, which is currently working on World of Warcraft. Allison Brown, an experimental software engineer developer, told Polygon earlier in January that talk about the union had begun before the acquisition, but around the buzz of working with the company.
“There was a concern that suddenly becoming part of a larger organization could mean that we might lose some of what makes Proletariat so special,” Brown said.
She continued: “No matter how much we trust management […], things can change. I started in this industry 14 years ago, I got fired more than once. I have seen the benefits change and get worse. There is no control over it. But if we do collective bargaining, if we put these things in writing, then there are mechanisms in place to make sure we have a say.”
After the petition was published, the Proletarian Leadership Board publish a blog in which it refused to recognize the union of the Proletariat, forcing the union to vote with the National Labor Relations Board. The proletariat leadership describes the company as “pro-worker” and implies that some workers have concerns, which is why the management wants to hold an anonymous vote.
Activision Blizzard’s response to previous consolidation efforts contrasts with so-called Microsoft’s neutral agreement on labor. The agreement, signed with the CWA, means that Microsoft will not interfere with organizational efforts at the company — even with current Microsoft employees or employees potentially joining Microsoft as part of a $68.7 billion deal to get Activision Blizzard (currently subject to a lawsuit by the Federal Trade Commission).
That deal was tested late last year when QA officers at ZeniMax Media, responsible for franchises like The Elder Scrolls, Doom and Fallout, announced their intention to merge. Microsoft agreed to recognize the union after a snap vote outside the NLRB; The company was able to avoid a lot of bureaucracy thanks to the neutrality agreement. ZeniMax QA staff voted through a union authorization card and an online portal, where the majority workers pledge to support unions.
Update (January 9): This story has been updated to include comment from Activision Blizzard.
Update (January 10): Second, the proletariat leads published a blog post in which it refused to recognize the union of the Proletariat, forcing the union to vote with the National Labor Relations Board. The leadership of the proletariat describes the company as “pro-worker”.
The Union of Proletarian Workers opposes that, saying that not recognizing the majority of signed union cards is anti-union. “Their actions this week are in line with the anti-union playbook used by Activision and so many others,” the workers wrote in a statement. “The management held a town hall hearing last week which disappointed many of our workers. The meeting was inappropriate due to its anti-union influence.
The workers continued: “We can decide for ourselves whether we want to form a union or not. We don’t need help from management. We need — and deserve — to be respected and neutral. We want our team to do the right thing and collaborate with management without controversy. We can help make the Proletariat the best it can be by supporting each other.”
Update (January 24): Workers at Proletariat withdrew their union petition on January 24. This story has been updated to reflect that new information.
Update (January 24): Activision Blizzard responded to the CWA’s retraction request:
We highly appreciate TTK’s unilateral decision to withdraw the petition in response to workers’ feedback. As we have stated, we welcome the opportunity for each employee to securely express their wishes through a secret vote. Our team at Proletariat does extraordinary work every day. They remain focused on working with their teams to continue making Proletariat a place where everyone can thrive, prosper and be part of a great team and culture.
Update (January 25): This story has been updated to include comment from another Proletarian worker.
