Activision Blizzard CEO Bobby Kotick received a stern warning from the highest levels of the U.S. government not to interfere with burgeoning unionization efforts at one of the gaming company’s subsidiaries.
According to Washington Post, U.S. Senator Tammy Baldwin, a Democrat from Wisconsin, urged Kotick to “negotiate in good faith with the workers and suspend any efforts to undermine your employees.” She went on to say, “I urge you and the management at Raven Software to remain neutral in the coming NLRB election in order to allow your employees to decide their representatives for themselves.”
This comes after Activision Blizzard refused to recognize Raven Software’s movement toward unionization. The smaller studio filed for union election in late January, after which Kotick’s ABK attempted to interfere with the process. No doubt the Baldwin’s letter comes as welcome support to Raven’s workers and an unpleasant pressure for Activision Blizzard’s execs and board. A copy of Baldwin’s letter was also forwarded to Microsoft’s CEO.
