ZeniMax Workers United QA Union Has Reached A Tentative Deal With Microsoft After Two Years Of Negotiations
The ZeniMax Workers United union, representing more than 300 quality assurance developers working at ZeniMax Media under Microsoft, has reached a tentative deal after two years of negotiating.
A press release from the Communications Workers of America (CWA) calls it a “historic” agreement. The ZeniMax Workers United-CWA is the first union formed after Microsoft agreed to take a neutral stance on its employees’ unionizing when it was trying to close its acquisition of Activision Blizzard, to have a deal, even a tentative one, in place.
This deal also comes almost two months after the ZeniMax Workers United-CWA voted to authorize strike powers for its negotiating committee. When the ZWU-CWA voted to authorize strike powers, representatives of the union voiced their displeasure with Microsoft dragging its feet at the bargaining table, with union member Zachary Armstrong saying “None of us wishes it had come to this, but if Microsoft and ZeniMax continue to demonstrate at the bargaining table that they’re unwilling to pay us fair wages for the value our labor provides to our games, we’ll be showing them just how valuable our labor is.”
The ZWU-CWA did just that and, according to the press release, negotiated a tentative deal that includes “substantial across-the-board wage increases as well as new minimum salaries for workers. ” It also includes “protections against arbitrary dismissal, grievance procedures, and a crediting policy that clearly acknowledges the QA workers’ contributions to the video games they help create.“
“QA workers from across the country continue to lead the charge for industry-wide change,” said ZWU-CWA bargaining committee member and senior QA tester Page Branson. “Going toe-to-toe with one of the largest corporations in the world isn’t a small feat. This is a monumental victory for all current video game workers and for those that come after.”
Fellow ZWU-CWA bargaining committee member and QA tester Jessee Leese added, “Video games have been the revenue titan of the entire entertainment industry for years, and the workers who develop these games are too often exploited for their passion and creativity. Organizing unions, bargaining for a contract, and speaking with one collective voice has allowed workers to take back the autonomy we deserve. Our first contract is an invitation for video game professionals everywhere to take action. We’re the ones who make these games, and we’ll be the ones to set new standards for fair treatment.”
Now that a tentative deal has been reached, it is expected to be ratified by June 20, according to the ZWU-CWA. Once that’s done, it’ll officially be the beginning of a new era for QA workers at ZeniMax. After that, the other unions that have formed under Microsoft since it signed a union neutrality agreement that do not have a deal in place are the Overwatch Gamemakers Guild-CWA, One BGS USA, One BGS Montreal, Game Workers Alliance at Raven Software, and the World of Warcraft Game Makers Guild-CWA.
