Testers at Activision's Raven Software Forms First Major Union in the US Video Game Industry - News

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Quality assurance testers at Activision Blizzards' Raven Software voted today to form the first major union in the US video game industry, according to Bloomberg's Jason Schreier.

Schreier says there were 19 votes in favor of forming the union, called Game Workers Alliance, and three votes against it.

"It's now official: testers at Activision-owned Raven Software have voted to form the U.S. video game industry's first major union. There were 19 votes for and 3 votes against," said Schreier.

The union is now recognized by the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) and will now negotiate a contract with Activision Blizzard, who has been fighting against the formation of the union.

The NLRB previously told Activision Blizzard the quality assurance testers at Raven Software had enough of a bargaining unit to form its own union.

A life-long and avid gamer, William D'Angelo was first introduced to VGChartz in 2007. After years of supporting the site, he was brought on in 2010 as a junior analyst, working his way up to lead analyst in 2012 and taking over the hardware estimates in 2017. He has expanded his involvement in the gaming community by producing content on his own YouTube channel and Twitch channel. You can contact the author on Twitter @TrunksWD.

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TallSilhouette (on 23 May 2022)

Wonderful news. May it be the first of many. I hope to see the VFX industry unionize alongside it. God knows how overworked they are...

• +7

GoOnKid (on 25 May 2022)

Long overdue. Hope more will follow.

• 0

DonFerrari (on 24 May 2022)

If it is the wish of the employees I see nothing wrong.

• -1

VAMatt (on 23 May 2022)

Well, I hope for the sake of people in the industry, the companies involved, and gamers, that unions don't get a strong hold in the gaming business. Unions in the US these days mostly just exist to line the fat cats pockets at the expense of the members.

• -11

TallSilhouette VAMatt (on 23 May 2022)

Workers in a union have:

higher wages (11.2% more than what nonunion workers make)
employer-provided health insurance (96% compared to 69%)
access to paid sick days (93% compared to 75%);
retirement benefits through private employers (82% to 48%); and
guaranteed pensions through private employers (54% to 8%).

https://aflcio.org/formaunion/collective-voice

Meanwhile, average union dues are less than 2% of wages:
https://www.reuters.com/business/retail-workers-unions-reap-higher-wages-even-us-organizers-suffer-setbacks-2021-07-09/

To say nothing of the better general working conditions. Sorely needed in a notoriously overworked industry.

• +9

VAMatt TallSilhouette (on 23 May 2022)

Yes, there are lots of stats that make unions look decent. But, as a former union member myself, and son of long time union activist, I've seen them through and through. They're almost all a joke. Better working conditions.....sure, if you mean that nobody ever has to help anyone because "that's not my job".

And there are no guaranteed private pensions. Those ended decades ago. Nowadays, taxpayers are on the hook for almost all pensions once the employer is unable to pay them (which happens all the time). That's an example of a stat that unions point to all the time, but that is simply not real.

Also, 2% of wages is a big expense.

Your higher wages argument is simply wrong. Most unions point to a number more like 20% above non-union wages. But, those numbers don't control of tons of stuff that otherwise explains most, if not all, of the difference. In reality, because of the way that unions force companies to operate, it is essentially impossible to get 1:1 comparisons between union and non-union workers.

• +8

TallSilhouette VAMatt (on 23 May 2022)

Also a former union member. Would gladly join another if the opportunity arose. 2% of your wages in exchange for 11% higher wages seems like pretty easy math to me.

EDIT: Care to back up your claims with any actual sources? Mine are the US Bureau of Labor Statistics: https://www.bls.gov/news.release/union2.t02.htm

• +1