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Blizzard Albany QA Workers Have Voted to Unionize | MMORPG.com
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Blizzard Albany QA Workers Have Voted to Unionize | MMORPG.com
Blizzard Albany QA workers have voted 14-0 in their unionization vote and will officially organize under Game Workers Alliance. This is the second Activision Blizzard QA team to officially vote to unionize.
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I'm happy this happened.
Fishing on Gilgamesh since 2013
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If this is allowed to scale up, then unionizing most of Activision Blizzard could mean several hundred separate unions representing different, tiny chunks of their labor force. It could mean hundreds of separate contract negotiations, and hundreds of separate sets of workers threatening to go out on strike at independent times, each believing that they have the leverage to force much larger swaths of the company to halt their normal work.
That is not traditionally how unionization has gone in the United States. Maybe a company would have to negotiate with one union, or a few different unions that represent workers dealing with fundamentally different job roles. A company that strikes a deal with a major union buys some years of labor peace. Under the new model of negotiations with micro-unions, signing a labor deal might only buy you labor peace until some other union's contract is up next week.
Imagine if the NFL had a separate players union for each position: one union for wide receivers, a different union for tight ends, yet another union for punters, and so forth. Rather than risking a strike (or lockout) once every several years, you'd have several separate risks of it every single offseason. Positions that had agreed to contracts might still be unable to play and get paid because a different position voted to go on strike. That would be disastrous for management, players, other team employees, and fans.
If the new union tries to force Blizzard to make any concessions at all, it will create tremendous pressure for Blizzard to shut down the Albany QA team entirely the next time that they need to have any layoffs of QA people. And if the new union doesn't try to force any concessions, then the employees just agreed to give away 1% or so of their pay checks in exchange for nothing in particular.
There may be initially a few unions that sprout up (if the movement catches hold - that's yet to be determined) -- but they will start to consolidate in order to amplify their bargaining power.
That isn't to say that a single "Gaming" union will pop up, but if you look in most industries, there will be a big handful (say - Electricians, Culinary, Boilermakers, Autoworkers, etc), but not hundreds of small ones. Unions are very much political entities, so they will gravitate around high-charisma leaders and their influence will wax and wane depending on the popular politics of the day.
That said, I've been part of a union once.
I will say - they do help when a Company has too much leverage over the employees. But.... they also suppress employees - If you are a shooting star -- too bad, you must belong to the union, you must abide by that pay scale, and your advancement isn't determined by your drive or your skill, it's determined by the amount of time you have spent in your job. There is a time where a rising tide raises all ships, and once you get past that initial hump... it's still great for the bottom 50% of the workforce - but it's a bum deal for the top 50% - as it will drag all workers to some median depending almost solely on your time in rate or some other arbitrary metric they use to negotiate your pay scale on.
My prediction:
The gaming industry will allow this, on small isolated offices like this. And those offices will, over a short period of years (some arbitrarily long enough of a time period so it doesn't look related or reactionary), find themselves entirely outsourced, or retired with "more efficient restructuring" or "Advanced automated AI software". Software is one of those truly global workforce enviroments, and it's just too easy to say "Hey, our NY office now costs too much to run, and New Dehli can do the same thing at 1/3 the price, so buh-bye NY hello New Dehli".
Amazon delivery drivers, though -- ripe for unionization. You can't exactly outsource local delivery. That's largely why unions are still strong in construction and entertainment industries, but has weakened in manufacturing and other segments that are more apt to being globalized.
Case in point - look to automotive manufacturing. Sure, there is still some manufacturing left in the US, but it's just some token shell of what it once was that is there for mostly political reasons, whereas the majority of manufacturing has moved internationally where they don't have to deal with unions or regulations or whatever else is costing them profit.
On the plus side there's plenty of QA jobs out there. Many are fully remote. We use them at my company. It's not game testing but we pay well and treat our QA people like valuable people instead of cattle. I don't understand why they insist on staying with Blizzard. Just find a better job. Any sort of prestige associated with working for Blizzard has long been squandered. Move on.
WTF is wrong with you? Dick doesn't even begin to cover it.
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Unions trying to unionize workers who they know are against it have changed tactics to try to unionize smaller subsets of workers who are in favor of it. The Biden administration is pro-union, and so the NRLB allowed this unionization vote to go forward, when it would previously have been blocked. Activision Blizzard wanted the vote to be a larger set of workers, while the union wanted it to be smaller scale, as both sides knew that if it were a larger set of workers, the union gets voted down.
As for car manufacturing, that's actually a good example of how private sector unionization has often played out in the United States. It mostly wasn't outsourced to other countries. It was moved to states where workers would vote against unionizing.
Companies know very well that some states have populations that are generally pro-union, and others are anti-union. If they're in an industry that is prone to unionization, then they build or expand in anti-union states. Jobs have been moving from pro-union states to anti-union states over the last few decades, and the population has followed the jobs.
When the Albany QA office was created, Activision Blizzard presumably didn't believe that it was prone to unionization. If this becomes widespread enough to make the gaming industry reconsider that stance, then you can bet that gaming companies will avoid operating in Albany (and more generally, pro-union areas) in the future.
But if I were calling the shots, I would need to look at the larger picture. I can let individual work groups decide to unionize, and put my whole company at risk of a chaotic mess. Or I can save stress, save money and keep quality the same.
We are talking about game testers. A job that millions around the world would be able to do with a minimum amount of training. This is not an issue where we are talking about mine workers and safety. Or Airline Pilots. Or some critical function. We aren't even talking about highly specialized folks like MLB players that can command million dollar salaries. We are talking about someone that tests video games.
I put this vote in the same category as the similar shortsighted vote to unionize fast food workers. All that is doing is accelerating the move to robots and automation. Or those Starbucks locations that unionized and then were closed. Starbucks is a pretty liberal company, but even they can see the jeopardy those locations put the company in.
So yeah. Part of my job in real life is to determine where we should have our facilities. And that involves needing to close and move some which affect hundreds of people at a time. It also involves developing and deploying robotic solutions and automation. Right now those just supplement our headcount, but eventually they will out number workers.
Sometimes you have to look at the remaining 10,000 employees and realize that while it sucks, you have to hurt a few hundred to keep the company competitive and the others employed. Especially when that smaller group brought it on themselves.
All time classic MY NEW FAVORITE POST! (Keep laying those bricks)
"I should point out that no other company has shipped out a beta on a disc before this." - Official Mortal Online Lead Community Moderator
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"Oddly Slap is the main reason I stay in these forums." - Mystichaze April 9th 2018
Outsourcing the Albany QA is in fact getting rid of jobs that currently American workers are doing in NY and is a sad reality that hurts US workers.
You took the next step by saying that you would do it, in what I assume is your fantasy of being in upper management where those decisions get made.
It's a dick fantasy for lower-echelon workers like you to have. Not only is it anti-worker but it's anti-whatever country you live in to say you would get rid of local jobs and outsource them to some 3rd world sweat shop.
Yes, it happens and it's a dick move by the corporate big shots that do it but when a worker says they would do it that's beyond pathetic.
“Microtransactions? In a single player role-playing game? Are you nuts?”
― CD PROJEKT RED
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Just trying to live long enough to play a new, released MMORPG, playing New Worlds atm
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Not sure why Blizzard gets singled out for exceptional reception when there's a legion of underpaid employees often working in much harsher conditions than the QA department.
There are better ways to tackle this problem than unionization.
"True friends stab you in the front." | Oscar Wilde
"I need to finish" - Christian Wolff: The Accountant
Just trying to live long enough to play a new, released MMORPG, playing New Worlds atm
Fools find no pleasure in understanding but delight in airing their own opinions. Pvbs 18:2, NIV
Don't just play games, inhabit virtual worlds™
"This is the most intelligent, well qualified and articulate response to a post I have ever seen on these forums. It's a shame most people here won't have the attention span to read past the second line." - Anon
Sorry (not really) but these folks brought it on themselves by trying to unionize a job that needs practically no skill set.
IMHO It's a bigger dick fantasy to think that companies should just kowtow to a group of 14 unskilled employees that want to unionize. And before preaching about American workers and low wage sweatshops please check your pockets for cell phones and actually check the label on your clothes. Odds are they were all made elsewhere. Odds are they were made in "sweatshops". But some thrive in a world of hypocrisy where they can virtue -signal on message boards while living in a fantasyland.
You still drinking Starbucks? Asking for a friend.
But you do you.
All time classic MY NEW FAVORITE POST! (Keep laying those bricks)
"I should point out that no other company has shipped out a beta on a disc before this." - Official Mortal Online Lead Community Moderator
Proudly wearing the Harbinger badge since Dec 23, 2017.
Coined the phrase "Role-Playing a Development Team" January 2018
"Oddly Slap is the main reason I stay in these forums." - Mystichaze April 9th 2018
Dicks do the outsourcing-- that's the reality. But unlike most of us who deal with that reality and make the best of what we can with it, you actually want to promote being a dick and aspire to be one.
Yeah, you do you.
“Microtransactions? In a single player role-playing game? Are you nuts?”
― CD PROJEKT RED
It's easy to talk on message boards. I'd have more respect for someone who responded that they ditched their Iphone and quit drinking Starbucks and only wore clothes made in the USA.
Edit to add- As I said in my post. I expect it to be attacked by virtue signaling folks. It's OK. I'm a big boy. I've been called far worse than a dick
All time classic MY NEW FAVORITE POST! (Keep laying those bricks)
"I should point out that no other company has shipped out a beta on a disc before this." - Official Mortal Online Lead Community Moderator
Proudly wearing the Harbinger badge since Dec 23, 2017.
Coined the phrase "Role-Playing a Development Team" January 2018
"Oddly Slap is the main reason I stay in these forums." - Mystichaze April 9th 2018
People who read a P&L make the decisions about outsourcing, who they are really isn't the issue. Or are you saying that companies don't have the right to make decisions about their own profitability?
Don't get me wrong, companies have an ethical responsibility to their employees, just as employees have a responsibility to their employers, but in either case, if there is an issue, don't both parties have the right to make the best decisions for themselves?
The reality is that some jobs disappear overseas because companies operate sweatshops, Nike, Apple, among others, some jobs disappear because people feel that they deserve better, more or don't want to do the jobs, and in some industries, that's a real issue. Especially jobs like carpenters, plumbers, electricians, welders, and others. I don't know the ins and out of life as a programmer, but I suspect that if you don't like working conditions, you are also free to leave the company, and find a different job.
Outsourcing sucks, and but profit margins matter. Do I think 14 people makes a huge dent in Activision/Blizzard's overall P&L? Nope, but when does it impact? What is the cost unsustainable?
Unions can be a good and positive force for change, but they can also, like any other organization, be corrupt. It's really a shame that these days it's always black and white, and their aren't more real ways for people to find middle ground to make everyone happy.
I know the economic realities and have no problem with either company profitability or workers making a decent living. The thing is that both, workers and companies have a choice to do it ethically and honorably or not.
You don't just praise any way of making a profit or any way of working. How you do it matters.
Outsourcing is not something to be promoted... especially not by workers.
“Microtransactions? In a single player role-playing game? Are you nuts?”
― CD PROJEKT RED
You are just promoting your anti-union political agenda as you always do in these types of topics.
I'd rather virtue signal than creep signal as you did.
“Microtransactions? In a single player role-playing game? Are you nuts?”
― CD PROJEKT RED