Microsoft and unions

Relationship between Microsoft and trade unions around the world

ZeniMax Workers United-CWA  strike at ZeniMax in 2024

Microsoft recognizes 10 video game unions[α] in the United States, representing 2,600 video game workers. Microsoft like other tech companies, has historically resisted unions and relied on temporary workers with lower pay and job security than regular employees. This shift began in 2015 and accelerated in 2022 when Microsoft acquired Activision Blizzard. To expedite the approval process, Microsoft signed a labor neutrality agreement with Communications Workers of America. This agreement guarantees that Microsoft will not interfere with or oppose union organizing efforts. It applies to both of its video game subsidiaries, Activision Blizzard and ZeniMax Media. Other unionization efforts at TaxSaver Software and Lionbridge have been unsuccessful.

Microsoft employees in the United States have been vocal in their opposition to military and ICE government contracts with Microsoft. Microsoft workers also showed transnational support for Chinese tech worker protesting the 996.icu overtime culture.

Around the world, Microsoft and its subsidiaries have formed unions in Canada, Poland, Romania, South Korea and Sweden and formed works councils in Germany. Bethesda Game Studios employees unionized in Canada, and King video game developers in Sweden voted to form a "union club".

## Canada

[edit]

Montreal studio of Bethesda Game Studios was certified on August 13, 2024, with support of Communications Workers of America Canada.[1] This follows the recent unionization of QA testers at ZeniMax, its parent company in the United States.[2]

## Germany

[edit]

Microsoft Germany has 2,700 employees and 6 offices across Germany as of 2014. Employees are represented by local works councils and a central works council since 1998.[3]

## Romania

[edit]

Microsoft Romania employees formed a union in early 2024. Almost a year later, in January 2025, Microsoft Romania signed a collective agreement with SLTC (Romanian: Sindicatul Liber din Telecomunicații), a trade union affiliate of ANTIC (Romanian: Alianta Sindicatelor din Tehnologia Informatiilor si Comunicatii). The collective agreement covers 1,500 workers.[4]

## United States

[edit]

Microsoft recognizes 10 video game unions[α] representing 2,600 video game workers.[5] Microsoft like other tech companies, has historically resisted unions and relied on temporary workers with lower pay and job security than regular employees. Microsoft changed course in 2014 with the appointment of Brad Smith, Microsoft's new general counsel. Smith, along with the new CEO Satya Nadella, took a more conciliatory approach to regulation, including labor rights. This took shape in 2015, when Microsoft instructed all large contractors to provide paid time off.[6]

When Microsoft announced its intention to acquire Activision Blizzard in a $70 billion deal in January 2022, there was a pragmatic risk that Communications Workers of America (CWA) would oppose the acquisition if Microsoft did not recognize ongoing unionization efforts at Activision. The FTC raised antitrust concerns about the deal, so Microsoft hoped a labor neutrality agreement with CWA would make the pro-labor Biden administration less likely to oppose the acquisition.

The labor neutrality agreement guarantees that Microsoft will not interfere with or oppose union organizing efforts. The agreement originally intended to apply only to Activision Blizzard (pending its acquisition, which closed in October). After the acquisition was approved, the scope of the agreement was expanded to include ZeniMax Media, an existing Microsoft video game subsidiary.

Following the acquisition, Microsoft inherited two smaller video game unions from Activision Blizzard subsidiaries Raven Software and Blizzard Albany,[6] and has since voluntarily recognized 6 additional video game unions at both ZeniMax Studios and Activision Blizzard. Other unionization efforts at TaxSaver Software and Lionbridge were unsuccessful.

### Historic union drives

[edit]

A small group of 18 agency contractors at TaxSaver software declared itself the "negotiating unit" in April 1999 and became union-dues paying members of Washington Alliance of Technology Workers, affiliated to CWA.[7]: 372–373

Under joint employment law, their bargaining unit would have to be recognized by both Microsoft and TaxSaver which neither did. Despite the formal lack of collective bargaining, the TaxSaver unit experienced wage increases. A year later, Microsoft switched to H&R Block, resulting in a loss of jobs for the TaxSaver unit.[7]: 372–373

38 software testers who were contracted by Lionbridge formed the union "Temporary Workers Alliance" union in 2014. Microsoft explicitly did not bargain with them, but they instructed Lionbridge to provide at least 3 weeks of vacation for all contractors.[8] In 2016, Lionbridge announced layoffs, two months after the union ratified its first collective agreement. As part of the negotiations, the union had agreed to drop a joint employer lawsuit between them, Lionbridge and Microsoft.[9]

### Activision Blizzard

[edit]

In May 2022, Quality Assurance (QA) testers of Activision Blizzard subsidiary Raven Software went public as "Game Workers Alliance" (GWA) with the support of Campaign to Organize Digital Employees-CWA.[10] GWA voted to unionize (19–2), which the National Labor Relations Board certified afterwards.[11][12]

Following the Raven QA team's successful unionization, the 20-member QA team of Blizzard Albany announced a unionization drive in July 2022 as GWA Albany.[13] The vote passed (14–0), forming the second union at an Activision Blizzard subsidiary.[14]

On March 8, 2024, 600 QA testers at 3 Activision studios in Austin, Texas, Eden Prairie, Minnesota and El Segundo, California formed the union "Activision Quality Assurance United-CWA" and voted to unionize (390–8) in favor, making it the largest video game union in the United States.[15][16]

In June 2024, an unfair labor practice was filed against Lionbridge by CWA alleging that the company illegally terminated the employment of 160 Activision software testers in Boise, Idaho, in retaliation for exercising their right to participate in concerted union activities. As part of the layoff, CWA also alleges that workers were required to sign an overly broad confidentiality agreement and an illegal waiver of certain rights protected by the National Labor Relations Act.[17]

A month later, 500 artists, designers, engineers, producers, and quality assurance testers who work on World of Warcraft voted to unionize. This is the second "wall to wall" union (following Bethesda Game Studios) to represents all employees in a Microsoft bargaining unit, regardless of their job title.[18] The same day, 60 QA testers at Blizzard's Austin office, who work on various games including Diablo 4 and Hearthstone, also voted to unionize and formed the union "Texas Blizzard QA United-CWA".[19]

On March 27, 2025, user-researchers launched "Activision User Research Union-CWA" the first union for UX workers.[20] In May, developers who work on the Overwatch franchise launched "Overwatch Gamemakers Guild-CWA" after a super-majority of developers signed union authorization cards.[5]

### ZeniMax

[edit]

300 QA testers at ZeniMax Online Studios voted to unionize as "ZeniMax Workers United-CWA" in January 2023. The QA testers review video games like Elder Scrolls Online. Among the issues they wish to improve are equitable pay, workplace communication and ending crunch time.[21] ZeniMax QA testers at the Texas and Maryland studios initiated a one-day strike on November 13, 2024, in response to the shift from remote-work to return-to-office policy and Microsoft's reliance on outsourcing.[22] In May 2025, following two years of negotiations, the ZeniMax QA testers union reached a contract agreement with Microsoft, guaranteeing wage and salary minimums, protections against arbitrary dismissal, grievance procedures, and a crediting policy for QA workers.[23] 461 other employees also involved with Elder Scrolls Online, including designers, engineers, graphics artists and developers also at ZeniMax Online Studios, unionized as "ZOS United-CWA" in December.[24]

241 US employees at Bethesda Game Studios unionized as "OneBGS" on July 20, 2024. Its three studios are located in Austin/Dallas, Texas and Rockville, Maryland.[25] The bargaining unit includes artists, developers, and engineers; unlike its parent company ZeniMax, which exclusively represented QA testers at the time.[26][27] The fourth studio in Montreal, Canada was certified in August, with the support of Communications Workers of America Canada. This marks the first instance of "wall to wall" unions within Microsoft bargaining units.[26]

### Military contracts

[edit]

Employees criticized Microsoft's bid of the JEDI cloud computing contracts in 2018. In February 2019, hundreds of Microsoft employees protested the company's war profiteering from a $480 million contract to develop virtual reality headsets for the United States Army.[28]

### ICE contract

[edit]

100s of Microsoft employees protested their employers government contracts with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in June 2018.[29]

GitHub (subsidiary of Microsoft) had a $200,000 contract with ICE for the use of their on-site product GitHub Enterprise Server. This contract was renewed in 2019, despite internal opposition from many GitHub employees. In an email sent to employees, later posted to the GitHub blog on October 9, 2019, CEO Nat Friedman stated "The revenue from the purchase is less than $200,000 and not financially material for our company." He announced that GitHub had pledged to donate $500,000 to "nonprofit groups supporting immigrant communities targeted by the current administration."[30] In response, at least 150 GitHub employees signed an open letter re-stating their opposition to the contract, and denouncing alleged human rights abuses by ICE. As of November 13, 2019, five workers had resigned over the contract.[31][32][33]

The ICE contract dispute came into focus again in June 2020 due to the company's decision to abandon "master/slave" branch terminology, spurred by the George Floyd protests and Black Lives Matter movement.[34] Detractors of GitHub describe the branch renaming to be a form of performative activism and have urged GitHub to cancel their ICE contract instead.[35] An open letter from members of the open source community was shared on GitHub in December 2019, demanding that the company drop its contract with ICE and provide more transparency into how they conduct business and partnerships. The letter has been signed by more than 700 people.[36]

### 996.ICU

[edit]

On March 26, 2019, Chinese tech workers launched a public GitHub (owned by Microsoft) repository "996.ICU" protesting Chinese companies that have 996 working hour culture. "996.ICU" references 9am to 9pm, 6 days a week, ending up in the intensive care unit. In less than a week, over 200,000 users "starred" or liked the repository.[37] This repository has been described as the largest display of solidarity among tech workers.[38] A month later, Microsoft employees launched another GitHub repository in support of 996.ICU, which they said was threatened by censorship in China and asked Microsoft not to censor the original repository.[39]

## Poland

[edit]

Microsoft Workers Union (Polish: Związek Zawodowy Pracowników Microsoft) was registered on August 10, 2023 and is led by Tomasz Dydo.[40] As of 2024[update], an estimated 130 members have joined, representing a Microsoft's Polish workforce. Some of the issues the union wants to address are crunch time, unused vacation days and better enforcement of local labor laws.[41]

## South Korea

[edit]

In the Summer of 2017,[42] 370 workers of Microsoft Korea (half of the total workforce) formed Microsoft Korea Labor Union (Korean: 한국마이크로소프트노동조합).[43][β] It is led by Lee Ok-Hyoung, and is affiliated to the Korea Confederation of Trade Union.[45][γ] The union signed its first collective agreement in 2018, negotiation wages annually since.[46]

On November 24, 2021, 90% of the union membership voted to go on strike over long working hours and a 3.5% pay-raise offer that was rejected by the union membership,[43] instead demanding a 6.5% pay-raise. The strike authorization passed after 37 rounds of negotiations.[47]

## Sweden

[edit]

King is a video-game subsidiary of Activision Blizzard, headquartered in Stockholm. King is best known for publishing Candy Crush. In October 2024, Stockholm employees voted to form a "union club" (Swedish: Fackklubb) with Unionen, a Swedish trade union. As of January 2025, they have 217 members and meet with management to negotiate for a collective agreement. The impetus for increased membership was due to the cancellation of a private company doctor.[48]

## See also

[edit]

* Google worker organizations
* IBM and unions
* SAP and unions
* Activision Blizzard worker organization
* Game Workers Unite

## Notes

[edit]

1. ^ a b Game Workers Alliance (Raven Software)
Game Workers Alliance Albany
Activision Quality Assurance United-CWA
ZeniMax Workers United-CWA
OneBGS (Bethesda Game Studios)
World of Warcraft
Texas Blizzard QA United-CWA
ZOS United-CWA
Activision User Research Union-CWA
Overwatch Gamemakers Guild-CWA
2. ^ Banners of the union describes itself in English as "Microsoft Korea Labor Union"[44] while UNI Global calls them "Microsoft Korea Workers' Union"
3. ^ ETNews claims MS Korea union formed in July 2017, while The Investor states it was formed in August 2017.

## References

[edit]

1. ^ "Bethesda Game Studios Workers Win Labour Board Certification, Officially Join CWA Canada". CWA Canada. August 16, 2024. Archived from the original on August 16, 2024. Retrieved August 19, 2024.
2. ^ McEvoy, Sophie (June 27, 2024). "Bethesda Montreal files for unionisation". GamesIndustry.biz. Archived from the original on July 21, 2024. Retrieved July 21, 2024.
3. ^ Richter, Isabel (September 1, 2014). "Microsoft Deutschland führt "Vertrauensarbeitsort" ein" [Microsoft Germany introduces "trusted workplace]. Microsoft Germany (in German). Archived from the original on August 20, 2024. Retrieved September 22, 2023.
4. ^ "Microsoft Romania signs first-ever collective labour agreement, securing worker protections". UNI Global Union. March 24, 2025.
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6. ^ a b Scheiber, Noam (March 4, 2024). "Microsoft, the union-friendly tech titan | Analysis". The Seattle Times. Archived from the original on August 16, 2024. Retrieved August 16, 2024.
7. ^ a b Van Jaarsveld, Danielle D. (April 2004). "Collective Representation Among High-Tech Workers at Microsoft and Beyond: Lessons from WashTech/CWA". Industrial Relations: A Journal of Economy and Society. 43 (2): 364–385\. doi:10.1111/j.0019-8676.2004.00334.x. ISSN 0019-8676. Archived from the original on June 25, 2024. Retrieved July 21, 2024.
8. ^ Eidelson, Josh; Kanu, Hassan (August 23, 2018). "Microsoft Bug Testers Unionized. Then They Were Dismissed". Bloomberg News. Retrieved June 26, 2024.
9. ^ Levy, Nat (September 28, 2016). "Microsoft supplier Lionbridge laying off all its unionized workers". GeekWire. Retrieved June 23, 2024.
10. ^ Orland, Kyle (January 21, 2022). "Members of Activision's Raven Software QA team form a union". Ars Technica. Archived from the original on January 22, 2022. Retrieved June 18, 2024.
11. ^ Wood, Austin (May 23, 2022). "Activision Blizzard employees form first major NA games union, hope to inspire "growing movement of workers"". GamesRadar+. Archived from the original on June 14, 2022. Retrieved June 14, 2022.
12. ^ Paul, Kari (May 23, 2022). "Activision Blizzard's Raven Software workers vote to form industry's first union". The Guardian. Archived from the original on June 14, 2022. Retrieved June 14, 2022.
13. ^ Parrish, Ash (July 19, 2022). "Blizzard QA workers in Albany are organizing Activision's second union". The Verge. Archived from the original on August 1, 2022. Retrieved August 1, 2022.
14. ^ Carpenter, Nicole (December 2, 2022). "Blizzard Albany becomes second unionized studio at Activision Blizzard". Polygon. Archived from the original on January 26, 2023. Retrieved February 11, 2023.
15. ^ Carpenter, Nicole (March 8, 2024). "600 Activision QA workers unionize, Microsoft voluntarily recognizes". Polygon. Archived from the original on March 9, 2024. Retrieved June 18, 2024.
16. ^ Parrish, Ash (March 9, 2024). "Activision QA workers form the largest US video game union yet". The Verge. Archived from the original on June 18, 2024. Retrieved June 18, 2024.
17. ^ Reuben, Nic (June 12, 2024). "Activision QA supplier Lionbridge accused of retaliatory layoffs in "union busting" move". Rock, Paper, Shotgun. Archived from the original on June 12, 2024. Retrieved June 26, 2024.
18. ^ Eidelson, Josh (July 24, 2024). "Microsoft's 'World of Warcraft' Gaming Staff Votes to Unionize". Bloomberg.com. Archived from the original on July 24, 2024. Retrieved July 24, 2024.
19. ^ Valentine, Rebekah (July 24, 2024). "World of Warcraft's Entire Development Team Has Officially Unionized". IGN. Archived from the original on August 6, 2024. Retrieved August 5, 2024.
20. ^ Kerr, Chris. "Activision user research workers are unionizing 'to create an industry that works for them'". GameDeveloper.com. Retrieved May 12, 2025.
21. ^ Conditt, Jessica (January 3, 2023). "Microsoft is now the home of the video game industry's largest union". Engadget. Archived from the original on March 4, 2025. Retrieved June 1, 2025.
22. ^ Parrish, Ash (November 13, 2024). "Workers at Bethesda parent company strike over remote work policies". The Verge. Archived from the original on May 30, 2025. Retrieved June 1, 2025.
23. ^ Iovine, Anna (May 31, 2025). "Microsoft gaming workers win a tentative union agreement". Mashable. Ziff Davis. Archived from the original on May 31, 2025. Retrieved June 1, 2025.
24. ^ Gallagher, Danny (December 13, 2024). "ZeniMax Online Studios workers form their own union". Engadget. Archived from the original on May 25, 2025. Retrieved June 1, 2025.
25. ^ Reuben, Nic (July 22, 2024). "Bethesda Game Studios developers 'ecstatic' to announce a 241-strong 'wall to wall' union". Rock, Paper, Shotgun. Archived from the original on August 20, 2024. Retrieved August 16, 2024.
26. ^ a b Peters, Jay (July 19, 2024). "Bethesda Game Studios workers have unionized". The Verge. Archived from the original on August 19, 2024. Retrieved July 20, 2024.
27. ^ Wilde, Tyler (July 20, 2024). "Bethesda Game Studios developers form 'wall to wall' union that includes artists, designers, and programmers". PC Gamer. Archived from the original on July 21, 2024. Retrieved July 21, 2024.
28. ^ Wong, Julia Carrie (February 22, 2019). "'We won't be war profiteers': Microsoft workers protest $480m army contract". The Guardian. Archived from the original on February 23, 2019. Retrieved February 23, 2019.
29. ^ Birnbaum, Emily (June 10, 2020). "Microsoft employees are pushing for change. Will it matter?". Protocol (news). Archived from the original on October 2, 2023. Retrieved June 26, 2022.
30. ^ "GitHub and US Government developers". GitHub Blog. October 9, 2019. Archived from the original on March 22, 2021. Retrieved October 10, 2019.
31. ^ "As GitHub's Conference Begins, Five Employees Resign Over ICE Contract". Vice News. November 13, 2019. Archived from the original on March 22, 2021. Retrieved November 15, 2019.
32. ^ Ghaffary, Shirin (October 9, 2019). "GitHub is the latest tech company to face controversy over its contracts with ICE". Vox. Archived from the original on March 22, 2021. Retrieved November 15, 2019.
33. ^ "Letter from GitHub employees to CEO about the company's ICE contract". The Washington Post. Archived from the original on March 22, 2021. Retrieved November 15, 2019.
34. ^ "Microsoft's GitHub drops master-slave jargon". BBC News. June 15, 2020. Archived from the original on March 22, 2021. Retrieved July 1, 2020.
35. ^ Hussain, Suhauna; Bhuiyan, Johana (June 13, 2020). "After GitHub CEO backs Black Lives Matter, workers demand an end to ICE contract". Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on March 22, 2021. Retrieved July 1, 2020.
36. ^ Truong, Kevin (July 20, 2020). "The Open Source Community Is Calling on Github to 'Drop ICE'". Vice News. Archived from the original on March 22, 2021. Retrieved October 19, 2020.
37. ^ Yang, Yingzhi (March 29, 2019). "Chinese developers use Github to protest against country's 996 work schedule". South China Morning Post. Archived from the original on March 31, 2019. Retrieved July 24, 2024.
38. ^ Tan, JS (May 6, 2019). "Tech Workers Are Workers, Too". Jacobin Magazine. Archived from the original on August 20, 2024. Retrieved July 24, 2024.
39. ^ Emerson, Sarah (April 22, 2019). "Microsoft Employees Support Chinese Developers Fighting for Fair Labor Practices". Vice News. Retrieved July 24, 2024.
40. ^ "Związek Zawodowy Pracowników Microsoft". rejestr.io. Retrieved February 28, 2025.
41. ^ "Microsoft w Polsce. Pracownicy założyli związek i nie wykluczają strajku". Bizblog.pl (in Polish). December 11, 2024. Retrieved February 28, 2025.
42. ^ Park, Ga-young (July 10, 2018). "Oracle Korea's reputation on the line with record-long strike". The Investor. Retrieved June 26, 2022.
43. ^ a b "Microsoft Korea Workers' Union votes to strike over wages and disregard for workers' sacrifice during pandemic". UNI Global Union. Archived from the original on June 27, 2022. Retrieved June 26, 2022.
44. ^ 기자회견, Press Conference/ Microsoft Korea Labor Union (Video) (in Korean).
45. ^ Kim, Jiseon (October 17, 2017). "South Korea Oracle Establishes Its First Labor Union". ETNEWS. Archived from the original on May 15, 2021. Retrieved June 26, 2022.
46. ^ Kwak, Chang-yong (2021). 일렉기타 연주와 함께 투쟁을 [Fighting by playing electric guitar]. samu.or.kr. Korea Finance & Service Workers Union.
47. ^ Park, Wan-sun (November 24, 2021). 마이크로소프트 시총은 세계 맨 위, 노동조건은 바닥? [Microsoft's Market Cap is the Highest in the World, but Work Conditions are the Lowest?]. laborplus.co.kr (in Korean).
48. ^ Valentine, Rebekah (January 15, 2025). "How the Removal of a Private Doctor Sparked a Union at the Developer of Candy Crush". IGN Nordic. Retrieved January 20, 2025.

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[edit]

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* StarCraft competition
* Korea StarCraft League
* StarCraft II competition
* StarCraft II World Championship Series
* Warcraft III competition

People|

* Allen Adham
* Aaron Boulding
* Leonard Boyarsky
* David Brevik
* Russell Brower
* Samwise Didier
* Rod Fergusson
* Stieg Hedlund
* Jeff Kaplan
* Mark Kern
* Sam Lantinga
* Chris Metzen
* Michael Morhaime
* Josh Mosqueira
* Michio Okamura
* Rob Pardo
* Bill Roper
* Greg Street
* Matt Uelmen
* Alyssa Wong
* Patrick Wyatt

Related|

* Battle.net
* Blitzchung controversy
* Blizzard Albany
* Blizzard North
* BlizzCon
* California Department of Fair Employment and Housing v. Activision Blizzard
* Echoes of War
* Proletariat
* Vivendi Games
* Xbox Game Studios
* ZeniMax Media
* ABK Workers Alliance
* Microsoft and unions § United States

Others

* King
* Peltarion
* Major League Gaming
* Activision Blizzard Studios

Related|

* Vivendi Games
* Microsoft
* acquisition
* FTC v. Microsoft
* California Department of Fair Employment and Housing v. Activision Blizzard
* ABK Workers Alliance
* Microsoft and unions § United States

* v
* t
* e

ZeniMax Media

A subsidiary of Microsoft Gaming

Founders|

* Robert A. Altman
* Christopher Weaver

Publisher|

* Bethesda Softworks

Studios|

* Arkane Studios
* Bethesda Game Studios
* id Software
* MachineGames
* ZeniMax Online Studios

Former studios|

* Alpha Dog Games
* Arkane Austin
* Flashpoint Productions
* Tango Gameworks
* Roundhouse Studios

Franchises|

* Commander Keen
* Dishonored
* Doom
* The Elder Scrolls
* The Evil Within
* Fallout
* IHRA Drag Racing
* Prey
* Quake
* Rage
* Starfield
* Wolfenstein

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