Organizing Update

Raven Software/Activision Blizzard

Yesterday, Sen. Tammy Baldwin (D-Wisc.) sent a strongly worded letter to Activision Blizzard CEO Bobby Kotick, blasting the company’s management for undermining the efforts of quality assurance (QA) department workers at Wisconsin-based Raven Software to organize a union with CWA. Raven is owned by Activision Blizzard.

Baldwin’s letter follows the National Labor Relations Board’s hearing on the workers’ petition for a union election. Although a supermajority of Raven QA workers signed cards in support of having a union, a hearing was necessary because Activision Blizzard refused to voluntarily recognize the union and is using every procedural route possible to delay the vote in an attempt to subvert the workers’ effort to have a voice on the job.

“I am disturbed by recent media reports that describe efforts by Raven management to disrupt the organization effort,” Sen. Baldwin’s letter reads. “I urge you and the management at Raven Software to negotiate in good faith with the workers and suspend any efforts to undermine your employees’ legal right to form a union and collectively bargain.”

Click here to read the full letter and more from The Washington Post.

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Grist

Workers at Grist, a nonprofit independent media organization dedicated to telling stories about climate solutions, won voluntary recognition after more than 90 percent of employees signed cards showing their support to form a union. The bargaining unit, which includes editorial, engagement, and audience employees, will become part of the Pacific Northwest Newspaper Guild (TNG-CWA Local 37082).