Microsoft voluntarily recognised the union
As per QA staff atRaven SoftwareandBlizzard Albanybefore them, ZeniMax Workers United have partnered with the umbrella Communication Workers Of America (CWA) union.
Unlike those unions, ZeniMax staff did not have to take their fight for a union to the US National Labor Relations Board. Activision Blizzard, owners of Raven Software and Blizzard Albany, refused to voluntarily recognise staff unionisation efforts, prompting a legal fight which ultimately the workers won. ZeniMax is owned by Microsoft, who last year publicly announced aneutrality agreement with the CWA- likely as a way to assuage concerns over their ongoing efforts tobuy Activision Blizzard for $69 billion.
While ZeniMax is best known as Bethesda Softworks former parent company before the Microsoft acquisition, the 300 QA staff employed there work across all related studios - including Arkane, Id Software, ZeniMax Online Studios, Tango Gameworks and MachineGames.
In a statement toPC Gamer, Microsoft said that they looked forward “to engaging in good faith negotiations as we work towards a collective bargaining agreement.” ZeniMax Workers United is also the first recognised union of Microsoft employees.
