Bloomberg reported on Thursday that Activision Blizzard will convert around 1,100 U.S.-based contract quality assurance workers to full-time staffers. This change after years of criticism regarding the company’s practices regarding part-time employees and recent unionization efforts at Raven Software, an Activision Blizzard owned studio.
And here's the catch: Activision will not give raises to Raven QA testers, who are unionizing, "due to our legal obligations under the National Labor Relations Act," the company said in an email seen by Bloomberg News.
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The addition of 1,100 workers will increase the company’s headcount in its publishing arm by 25%. Each of these workers will get a raise to $20 an hour and will also be eligible for full company benefits, according to a statement made by the company.
Activision Blizzard previously converted 500 temporary roles to full time in December, though they also ended 20 contracts with Raven Software, where the primary quality assurance testers for the Call of Duty series work. This created a significant amount of backlash, as numerous of the fired workers had relocated to Wisconsin without any financial assistance in anticipation of a return to the office.
In response, employees staged a walkout, and the QA team at Raven Software later unionized to prevent the same from happening again. The parent company refused to recognize the union, with the National Labor Relations Board hearing arguments from both sides in February. The organization has not yet issued a ruling.
However, the company also said Raven Software QA employees won’t be receiving any raises during this latest conversion due to alleged legal obligations under the National Labor Relations Act.
“Whether Raven workers choose to unionize has nothing to do with the salary increases elsewhere for Activision’s QA workers,” said a spokesperson for Activision Blizzard.
The company claimed to be making this change as Call of Duty moves from an annual release to a live game model, which requires more regular QA testing. According to Bloomberg, Activision Blizzard will also bring on more QA staff from “external partners.” This move is also part of a process that they company said began last year.
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