Activision-Blizzard continues to be put on notice by the proto-union A Better ABK and the workers of the studio. The latest incident revolves around a leaked email from COO Brian Bulatao that announced plans to bring employees back into the US offices and drop COVID vaccination requirements for workers. “I’m sure the ‘benefits’ of in person collaboration is actually so employees organizing can be followed and monitored closely,” Activision-Blizzard dev and ABABK rep Jessica Gonzalez warned when sharing the email. “Do not die for this company.”
A day later, ABABK itself released a statement about the policy change, threatening another employee walkout on Monday, April 4th, unless there was an immediate reversal of the mandate lift along with the option to let employees continue to work from home.
Shortly after that statement, senior UI engineer Valentine Powell shared an update that Bulatao is now allowing individual studios to decide whether to continue to enforce a vaccination requirement for in-office work; as of this writing, Blizzard’s main office and QA offices in Texas, Minnesota, and Louisiana have reinstated the vaccine mandate.
“This conversation has illustrated why it is so crucial for workers to have the choice to WFH permanently if decisions about our health can be so casually decided without our input at a moment’s notice,” wrote Powell. It does appear a walkout is still happening Monday anyway in support of better work-from-home policies.
LEAKED: Brian Bulatao emailed all of ABK to talk returning to office in June. They will not be enforcing proof of vaccination. I’m sure the ‘benefits’ of in person collaboration is actually so employees organizing can be followed and monitored closely. Do not die for this company pic.twitter.com/MSOwWVYBR3
— Jessica Gonzalez 💙 is a chair 🪑 (@_TechJess) March 31, 2022
Breaking: Brian Bulatao has conceded to allow each studio to choose their own vaccine mandate requirements. So far I've heard that Blizzard, QAMN, QALA, and QATX have reinstated a vaccine mandate. I hope to hear that all of my fellow ABK coworkers will be similarly protected.
— Valentine Powell 💙🏳️🌈🏳️⚧️ (@valentine_irl) April 1, 2022
