Phil Spencer says he will recognize Raven Software’s union
During an internal all hands meeting with Xbox Game studios employees on Thursday, Head of Xbox Phil Spencer said that he would recognize Raven Software’s newly won union after Xbox acquires Activision Blizzard, which was confirmed by Kotaku.
The acquisition is currently under investigation by the Federal Trade Commission to ensure it’s not violating any anti-trust laws, but should it go through, Spencer said, “when the deal closes, we will absolutely recognize [the union].”
Previously, in a past all hands meeting, Phil Spencer had told employees he didn’t have much experience with unions. In Thursday’s meeting, he made a stronger statement.
“Linda Norman and I have been spending a lot of time educating myself on unions,” Spencer said. “We absolutely support employees’ right to organize and form unions.”
This and further quotes were verified by Kotaku using footage from the meeting.
“Once the deal closes, we would absolutely support [an] employees’ organization that’s in place,” Spencer said. “We think it is a right of employees and something that can be a part of a relationship between a company and people who work at the company.”
According to the Kotaku report, Spencer stressed that Microsoft doesn’t currently have a relationship with Communication Workers of America or Game Workers Alliance, Raven’s union.
This is the first time Microsoft has directly stated that it will recognize Game Workers Alliance, though according to Axios, the company had previously said it didn’t “object” to Activision Blizzard recognizing the union.
Meanwhile, Activision Blizzard did not want to recognize Raven’s union. After the National Labor Relations Board ruled in favor of the organizing employees, the company put out a statement against the decision.
“We respect and believe in the right of all employees to decide whether or not to support or vote for a union. We believe that an important decision that will impact the entire Raven Software studio of roughly 350 people should not be made by 19 Raven employees,” Activision Blizzard said in a statement to gamesindustry.biz.
Currently, neither company has been reached for comment.
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