Hundreds of Blizzard Workers Join CWA for a Stronger Voice at Work

In a major milestone for video game workers, nearly 500 Blizzard workers have joined CWA, adding to the growing wave of union formation across Microsoft’s gaming studios and joining over 1,900 Blizzard workers who have taken up the fight for a better workplace.

Last week, more than 100 developers behind Blizzard’s popular games Hearthstone and Warcraft Rumble voted in favor of union representation, joining CWA Local 9510 after a majority expressed support for wall-to-wall union representation. This unit includes software engineers, designers, artists, QA testers, and producers.

“Whether we are fighting for layoff protections, security for our remote workers, or reduced wage gaps, the pressures we face are making it harder to create the high-quality work we care about,”said CWA Local 9510 organizing committee member and senior 2D artist Uriah Voth. “Organizing gives us the opportunity to empower ourselves and challenge the instability and unfair conditions that undermine us.”

Days later, nearly 400 workers in Blizzard’s Platform & Technology department who support Battle.net, the company’s online platform, also voted in favor of union representation. The newly represented units include software engineers, project and product managers, graphic designers, and other workers responsible for Blizzard’s online services, website development, in-game purchases, and account management. These units will be represented by CWA Local 9510 in Irvine, Calif., and CWA Local 6215 in Austin, Texas.

“Blizzard workers in Texas are joining a new generation of video game developers who know their worth and are standing up for it,” said CWA Local 6215 President Ron Swaggerty. “Together with our siblings in California and beyond, we’re proving that no matter where you work, organizing is how we make this industry sustainable for the people who power it.”

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This post originally appeared on cwa-union.org.