Hundreds of Bethesda Employees Go on Strike - News
by William D'Angelo , posted on 01 December 2024 / 3,052 Views
Hundreds of employees at Bethesda have gone on strike, according to a report from Inverse.
Bethesda employees in Maryland and Texas have claimed the company has not addressed remote work concerns at the bargaining table and has been outsourcing quality assurance work without an agreement with the union.
"I'm excited. I'm really looking forward to tomorrow. I think it's going to be a fun event," said quality assurance test lead Rhyanna Eichner a day before the strike.
"I know that sounds weird, but we're all really looking forward to coming together and spending time together. Everybody understands that this needs to happen. This is what needs to be done to move on. We're all just kind of ready for it."
The union is looking to limit the percentage of quality assurance testers that Bethesda outsources when compared to the number of full-time employees.
The union is also looking for a more flexible remote work policy. Currently ZeniMax employees are required to go to the office twice a week and the union says many employees have been denied remote work requests.
"They have continually given us their first proposal again and again, and it’s become obvious that our different mobilization tactics have not worked," said Eichner.
Senior quality assurance tester at Rockville, Maryland Juniper Dowell added, "Striking isn’t fun or ideal, but there’s a satisfaction in having a concrete physical action we can do to fight for better work conditions. Hopefully, we can convince them to stop dragging their feet and meet us at the table."
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.