600 Activision QA staff vote to form the biggest US game union to date: "As QA workers, we often have the weakest protections and lowest pay"
Mar. 9, 2024Workers from the Call of Duty publisher form Activision Quality Assurance United
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About 600 ofActivision’s QA staff have voted to unionize, formally becoming the biggest video game union in North America.
Hundreds of quality assurance workers in the Activision Publishing department voted to form the Activision Quality Assurance United union, assisted by the Communication Workers of America (CWA). A CWA representative tellsPolygonthat 390 tallied votes read “yes,” with eight votes opting for a “no.”
“This has been an emergent effort that’s arisen in the last few weeks in response to the opportunities we’ve had to freely organize following the merger,” an organizer from the newly-formed union, Tom Shelley, tells The Verge. “As QA workers, we often have the weakest protections and lowest pay of any workers in the industry,” he continues, “even though our work is integral to the success of the companies we work for and the titles we make.”
Microsoft also recently announced layoffs affecting around 1,900 employees in the gaming division earlier this year.
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Kaan freelances for various websites including Rock Paper Shotgun, Eurogamer, and this one, Gamesradar. He particularly enjoys writing about spooky indies, throwback RPGs, and anything that’s vaguely silly. Also has an English Literature and Film Studies degree that he’ll soon forget.
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