もっと詳しく

Last January, the announcement had the effect of a bomb in the world of video games. Microsoft buys Activision Blizzard for the crazy sum of 68.7 billion dollars. As you can imagine, a purchase of this magnitude takes time to finalize. There are many details to settle, questions to deal with and many actors to convince.

Among these players, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) acts as the final boss. This American commission has the role of controlling anti-competitive business practices, such as unfair monopolies. On this subject, the association Microsoft – Activision / Blizzard raises many questions which they must answer convincingly.

A surprise ally

In this “game”, Microsoft has just obtained an important ally from the largest communications and media union in the United States, the Communications Workers of America (CWA). Indeed, after reaching an agreement with the owner of Xbox, the CWA sent a letter to the FTC to support the purchase of Activision Blizzard.

This is all the more surprising since the union has not always been in favor of this acquisition. Its members had expressed their concerns, among other things, because of the risks to “personal data and security, consumer protection and their rights”. Questions were also raised in relation to the weakening of workers’ power and wage cuts. In addition, in the past, Activision Blizzard had been virulent towards any union attempt. In its letter, the CWA speaks of obstructing investigations into cases of sexual harassment or poor working conditions.

The agreement between Microsoft and the CWA

On his side, in a blog post, Microsoft seems to want to show a very different face. With the help of the CWA, the multinational wants to make a clean sweep of the past, and put in place fundamental principles. There are four main ones:

  • Listening to employee needs and considerations
  • The right of employees to form or join a trade union
  • Close collaboration with trade unions, when employees wish to assert their rights
  • The creation of a close link with all employees, even those represented by a union

Brad Smith, president of Microsoft, clearly displays this desire in a tweet.

All these advances are remarkable in a country where unions are not yet very well regarded. It remains to be hoped that this letter of intent will not become a dead letter.

Article written by Charlie.

Articles on the same subject:

The post Activision Blizzard: one of the largest unions in the United States supports the project appeared first on Gamingsym.