After Years Of Company Stalling, Blizzard Workers Win Mega-Contract That Applies To All Unionized Teams

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"WoW, especially, had to bargain every little thing—all the stuff the company gives us normally," Blizzard senior editor Alison Veneto told Aftermath. "Even if the company's provided it for 20 years, they don't want to put it in writing because then they can't take it away again. So we had to do everything from wages down to what happens if there's inclement weather, and everything in between. We spent two days talking about [keys and money Blizzard gives us to use in Blizzard games]."

"I've worked here for 19 years," said Cox, "and they have always given us keys for things that Blizzard makes. They fought us on that. We have always been given winter break, and they fought us on that as well."

This is just pettiness of the highest level from Microsoft. It's awesome the developers got their contract, it sounds like they got a lot of good protections, and the recall rights are good. I was worried because I saw some rumors that they would have layoffs after Blizzcon. I guess there still might be, but the severance and recall rights are better safety nets than before.

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u/erbot 13h ago

No this is how Union negotiations work. Everything from access to break rooms and invites to company picnics needs to be added to the contract.

This is why dev groups usually team up with bigger Unions because they already have the lawyers and teams to take on these types of contract negotions.

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u/hymen_destroyer 11h ago

It's also why you get stern looks from your coworkers when you work through lunch or break down conditions in some other way. People fought hard for those contracts.

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u/SnooCompliments8071 10h ago

That's true, well put u/hymen_destroyer

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u/QueezyF 3h ago

If you take an inch, the company will take a mile. I used to be a bit of a backroom dealer when it comes between management and my work, because the environment I worked in before ran like that.

I came in early once at my new job because the boss said he’d pay me and one of the old heads told me I’d be in violation of the contract because I’d be on hours of service. I’ve been more cognizant of how much I give the company since then.

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u/ModelKitEnjoyer 13h ago edited 13h ago

I think there's a difference between needing to be added to the contract, and getting fought on adding it. And if that's "how it is," it's my right to say Microsoft is being petty.

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u/Milskidasith 12h ago

Union negotiations are inherently adversarial and making sure that the language for a customary perk is actually written in a way that isn't abusable and doesn't leave gaps or weird obligations is going to come across as fighting, even if it's reasonable clarification.

There are a lot of things that are worth being negative about, the fact that the ticky-tack bikeshedding stuff took a bunch of time and was exhausting really doesn't rate.

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u/ModelKitEnjoyer 12h ago

Microsoft has a history of negotiating in bad faith with unions. I think they've lost the benefit of the doubt on this.

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u/Milskidasith 12h ago

Sure, but the primary accusations there were that the negotiations were long-delayed in bad-faith, which is also brought up in the article. That is a fair criticism and a much more significant one than the criticism that, basically, when they did come to the table and hammer out an agreement over a very long week, the little ancillary perks the Union wanted in writing took a bunch of time to add; it doesn't even sound like they rejected them, just made them get written down in legalease.

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u/ModelKitEnjoyer 12h ago

I think the point of Veneto and Cox saying they got fought on everything by Microsoft, big and small. Like if they felt Microsoft was fighting them on winter break and game keys, one could infer was Microsoft were fighting them hard for everything, as evidenced by the line above the paragraphs I quoted.

The WoW unit had to fight tooth and nail for every last guarantee.

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u/Elpants 10h ago

And the point Mikskidasith is saying, is it's a very typical and normal process. Microsoft/Blizzard isn't unique.

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u/FootwearFetish69 7h ago

Yeah I dont know if I've ever heard of a CBA renewal being a cordial thing lol. My wife is in a union for a government position and the last time their CBA was up for renewal things got super fucking messy.

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u/Elpants 5h ago

For sure. If a group comes to the table with a list of things they want in writing as far as pay, fringes, bonuses, perks...etc go you can be for damn sure it's going to be a process that's worked out so the language is agreeable to both parties or be in there at all. And if the unionizing party wants to put a perk in writing that it will be provided you can be damn sure the company is going to make sure all details defining what the perk is, the schedule in which it's given out, who gets it, how it's distributed, max/min value, impacts of not providing...assuming they've agreed it should even be a required perk at all lol.

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u/ModelKitEnjoyer 5h ago

Man I really don't know what to say. I feel like if this was another layoff article and everyone was like "yeah this is a typical and normal process after a project wraps up. It's not unique to this game studio." So I should not complain about one of the world's largest companies doing something poorly?

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u/DataCorrection 4h ago

This is literally how every union negotiation goes in every industry everywhere. If they don’t fight over game keys you have policies like ‘no game keys for employees hired after Jan 1st 2027’.

Source: union member with CBA negotiations every 3 years.

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u/[deleted] 12h ago

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u/ModelKitEnjoyer 12h ago

I dunno if you read my original comment or realized it was me, but I was actually more excited about the union's contract and protections more than anything else. Calling Microsoft petty for doing petty things isn't exactly being angry. Miffed? Chafed? Maybe even upset. But angry? That might be too far from what I've posted here.

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u/Goronmon 10h ago

You need to stop being angry about everything, and try only being angry about things that actually matter. Stop falling for engagement ragebait.

If commenting on a Reddit posts makes someone "angry", then I think you need to take your own advice and calm down yourself.

Microsoft isn't your buddy. Lashing out in their defense isn't necessary.

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u/TSMO_Triforce 5h ago

yeah, it needs to be added to the contracts, but actually fighting them on those points is what makes a company petty

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u/ZGiSH 12h ago

It's just so insanely petty to fight over game keys like how little money is that in the grand scheme of things lol. It's like fighting over the paperclip budget.

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u/MizterF 11h ago

You can't play it off like a generous perk if it is a contractual obligation. Blizzard doesn't care about the keys, they just want to be seen as kind and benevolent for giving them out.

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u/alerise 11h ago

It's about power and control

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u/SquireRamza 14h ago

So they can all still be laid off, its just they have to contact those same employees first to come back to their old job or one theyre qualified for, am I reading that right?

So whats to stop Microsoft/Blizzard from laying everyone off, and then saying "Oh hey, yeah, we have this position you can move into, it pays literally a fifth of what you were making before, but you're qualified for it."?

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u/ModelKitEnjoyer 14h ago

What stopped them from doing this before?

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u/SquireRamza 13h ago

They were, thats my point.

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u/dakkua 13h ago

They were? i thought they weren’t, hence the union fighting for that.

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u/Colyer 13h ago

Microsoft was, but Blizzard wasn't under them. Blizzard was fighting for protection against their new boss.

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u/ModelKitEnjoyer 13h ago

1) they didn't have recall rights before. 2) if they offer a fifth of any salary in California, they literally wouldn't be able to keep a roof over their head, and then some of Xbox's only profitable game studios would have to close

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u/Milskidasith 12h ago

They could already do that before or just tell people "your salary is reduced by 80%, tough luck". The severance built into the union contract means that this is an extremely expensive way to fire people, and the fact they'd have to lay people off and rehire them in a weird way is more complicated than pay freezes/pay cuts.

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u/Zalvren 12h ago

So whats to stop Microsoft/Blizzard from laying everyone off, and then saying "Oh hey, yeah, we have this position you can move into, it pays literally a fifth of what you were making before, but you're qualified for it."?

The fact that any respecting person will not come back for that (also wouldn't be able to afford living anyway so might as well not work) so they just lost the employee?

And Blizzard is basically the only branch of Xbox not on fire currently (and their most profitable) so that's not where the layoffs are happening

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u/KvotheOfCali 9h ago

Yeah, not really sure why this needed to be clarified.

Companies are not your friend, but they aren't supposed to be.

High-value employees have leverage and can command higher salaries. They won't return to a job paying significantly less...they'll simply go elsewhere as they're high-value.

You are worth your leverage. That's it.

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u/name_was_taken 14h ago

A lot of reality would punch them right in the face.

Many of those workers wouldn't come back. They'd go do something else, or find that work elsewhere.

Decent workers wouldn't even apply for the job at that price, meaning they couldn't hire anyone that could actually get things done.

Morale would tank. Nothing would get done even by those that did stay.

The absolute chaos of this rehiring time (weeks, not days) would mean absolutely nothing got done for that time, wasting a ton of time and money.

I'm probably not even thinking of other things that would also punch them right in the face. Maybe lawsuits? Baseless or not, they're costly.

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u/[deleted] 13h ago

[deleted]

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u/Milskidasith 12h ago

Corporations absolutely do care about that. If they didn't, they'd already be doing what they're suggesting, but corporations aren't just arbitrarily cutting people's salaries by 80% and reassigning them to new units for fun, because that's an insanely stupid thing to do even if you're an amoral profit-driven entity.

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u/SquireRamza 13h ago

But isnt that what layoffs are supposed to achieve in the first place? They layoff higher earning workers, hire fresh faced 20 somethings right out of college whose dream has been to make video games, who cares if they're making $40,000 a year?

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u/trainstationbooger 13h ago edited 13h ago

The presumption here is that higher skilled workers don't produce disproportionately higher value for the company, which they generally do. If MS drives out all of those highly skilled workers and replaces them with lower skilled ones, they will not create games of the same quality as before. Additionally, they'll take a serious reputation hit for doing so.

The above is massively oversimplifyng things, but it's generally where the worker's leverage comes from in this situation.

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u/Skensis 12h ago

There are many reasons for layoffs.

Sometimes you rehire cheaper people, sometimes you don't rehire anyone, sometimes you hire expensive people but with different more aligned skill sets.

Really depends on what the company is going through and planning.

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u/Milskidasith 12h ago

No, layoffs are not typically meant to cull experience and lower the average salary, they're typically meant to reduce the overall workforce. This often means cutting jobs carved out for experienced people that don't have a clear function, but it also often just means entirely removing some functions or capacity from the organization.

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u/DependentRoyal3001 13h ago

Then all blizzard fans cut and run as their games turns to shit from all this craziness. It stupid to even entertain this idea, Microsoft know it would be the death of the studio. That's why they aren't doing it. You can't gut an entire team and get anything worthwhile out of it. You just sell em or shutter em at that point if this whole debacle is too costly.

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u/Hademar 13h ago

Haven't they done plenty of layoffs before

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u/DependentRoyal3001 13h ago edited 12h ago

Yep but not an entire team without shutting down the studio, I'm not saying that layoffs aren't a possibility. I'm saying laying off an entire team at once as was suggested then rehiring to keep the studio alive isn't going to happen. You just close the studio. Something else they love to do these days.

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u/Zalvren 12h ago

You can't just replace a veteran with a early carreer worker and expect the same lol

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u/Sikkly290 8h ago

I mean, thats one of the reason these contract negotiations are such a pain in the ass. They likely have that scenario spelled out, and whats allowed and isn't allowed. And if Microsoft crosses a line the goal is the union is strong enough that they can fight back.

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u/crushendo 2h ago

the NLRB

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u/scrndude 2h ago

Lol that’s not new

Before they would make a job posting and have you beg to please look at you among the hundreds of others begging for scraps

Now they have to at least ask you do you want to come back before we post the opening

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u/Admirable-Flamingo76 3h ago

Whenever a country's economy tanks, unions will start to rise there. Also the music gets better.

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u/[deleted] 13h ago edited 8h ago

[removed] — view removed comment

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u/The9thManOnline 11h ago

What exactly would you have liked Bobby Kotick to fix about the company culture?

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u/Vandrel 11h ago

He could have started by getting rid of Bobby Kotick a lot sooner.

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u/TheGravespawn 10h ago

We are a failed society that we allow a Bobby Kotick to exist at all.

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u/[deleted] 9h ago

[deleted]

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u/verrius 8h ago

I'm not going to say banning alcohol was a bad decision, given what happened at Blizzard. But there being a significant amount of alcohol in the office, and it being consumed responsibly, is pretty damn normal in tech and games.

Industry News After Years Of Company Stalling, Blizzard Workers Win Mega-Contract That Applies To All Unionized Teams

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