In 2023, the Zenimax Workers United, a union formed by about 300 QA workers at a parent company in Bethesda, has given leaders the right to demand a strike after almost two years of negotiations of the agreement.
A Press release The union tells the “more than 94 %” members voted in favor of this permission. Permission must not mean that strike Equivalent It is, but it gives union leaders the authority to demand such a strike if the talks are stopped. Zen Max Workers United had already made a single day strike in protest of the decision to outsource Office Mandate and Microsoft KQA’s work, from forced return to a one -day strike. These concerns are still an important part of the union’s concerns today with “better wages” and “improvement in workplace”.
“Despite being one of the world’s largest corporations in the world, we had to fight permanently,” said Union Member and Associate QA Tester Ober Lichfield. “They can pay the least wages as a multi -trillion dollar company to their employees. However, when addressing the bargaining table, Microsoft works as we are demanding too much.”
Microsoft told Games Radar+ in a statement when Microsoft told Games Radar+ in a statement, “Our quality insurance team is an essential part of our business and will like our players.” We respect the team’s right to express their right to express their views.
“There has been a lot of progress during the negotiations, which has reached temporary agreements on the majority of the topics in the table. We have proposed a package that we believe is fair – if accepted, it immediately increases the compensation, even more stronger than it.
Senior QA Tester Zachary Armstrong said in the Union Press Release: “Due to under -payment and expensive RTO measures, many of us have caused their lives to take their lives because our income does not even work with the increasing cost of living in these cities where we work for work.”
The exact details of the agreement negotiations are not public knowledge, but the promise of Microsoft’s hybrid working arrangements is clearly not enough for many members of the union. As Lichfield notes somewhere in the release, “We have released numerous titles fully remotely.” We have seen developers in studios such as a snowstorm and rock star, such as forcibly returning against policies.
“We are not afraid to use our union’s power to make sure that we can make a great game,” said Senior QA Tester Scaler Hannant. “We all want to work. We hope that Microsoft will allow us to do so with dignity and justice by the first contract with our union.”
Xbox talked enough friendly words about unions while purchasing their activation snowstormBut it would be a real agreement to see how far this friendship is.
