As efforts to unionize grow employees at gaming giant Activision Blizzard
have been sharing some pretty incredible anti-union
propaganda posted by the law firm representing the company.
So we're gonna show you a screenshot of one of the prime examples here.
And it shows what is supposed to be a list of how unions exploit employees.
Because the real exploitation happens on behalf of groups
that represent the best interests of employees, of course.
So here's how unions exploit employees according to the law firm representing
Activision Blizzard here, which of course recently was bought by Microsoft.
Lazy, non productive or inefficient employees, okay?
[LAUGH] Footloose and fancy-free, no major obligations or
commitments, financial or otherwise.
This is the way that they view workers or just- It's so messed up.
It's so messed up, it's- Bro KF, I think.
Rebel, anti-establishment opposes society structure and management.
Maybe, I mean, you put it that way, it doesn't sound that bad, but,- No, look,
that sounds awesome.
I can understand why corporations are not fans of these individuals.
Sure, but also there are plenty of people who wanna join the union who don't
consider themselves massive anti-establishment rebels.
They just want their due as workers.
Right.
But it doesn't sound bad when you put it that way.
Good word, malingerer.
Is it Biden who write this, who talks like that?
[LAUGH] Something for nothing attitude.
[LAUGH] This is a way of just insulting the workers who wanna unionize.
What do you mean something for nothing?
They're employees.
Exactly.
They've given you the something.
I mean, without them, Activision Blizzard has nothing.
Without the workers producing the work which makes the money,
they've got nothing.
But there's more, whiner and complainer.
Yeah, obviously.
Activist, just activists.
This is general.
[LAUGH] Over-qualified for current job position, this position.
I don't understand that part.
Don't.
So should you promote them?
They go from footloose and fancy-free to over-qualified.
They've happy feet, and I don't trust it.
Yeah. [LAUGH]
No, I mean, this is a joke,
this is ridiculous.
Yeah, since they constantly have Cheeto dust on their fingers, I don't like them.
Yeah, don't allow something like this to leak.
Honestly, It's not like there have certainly been groups exactly like that,
that have tried to put together anti union propaganda.
I mean, the right wing media like Fox has been doing it for literally decades.
They're usually at least slightly more sophisticated than malingerer,
and footloose and fancy-free.
It is delightfully old school, and thus fitting to the demographic of Fox news,
but no one other than Glenn Beck is gonna write something like that.
So the law firm has since deleted the post, so it never happened, John.
Wise position.
It never happened.
No, not wise position.
It's better than leaving it up not as good as never putting it up.
That's sure I guess, but what would have been better like a good middle ground is
maybe apologizing for putting this garbage out there, it's so incredibly insulting.
Anyway, so the law firm again has since deleted it.
Activision, along with lawyers at Reed Smith have been on a crusade against
employees who are trying to unionize.
This has been going on for several months now.
Now, quality assurance testers at Raven software,
which is owned by Activision Blizzard announced in January that they'd be
working with the Communication Workers of America in an effort to form this union.
But Activision Blizzard declined to voluntarily recognize the union.
We carefully reviewed and considered the CWA's initial request,
and tried to find a mutually acceptable solution with the CWA
that would have led to an expedited election process.
Read the statement from Raven software studio head Brian Raffel.
Unfortunately, the parties could not reach an agreement probably because you guys
don't want to accept the fact that your workers want to unionize.
And their anti-union activities go far beyond that ridiculous post that we
shared with you.
Activision Blizzard has engaged in multiple union busting tactics over
the past month, including separating agitated employees,
moving them to different departments,
and subjecting Raven software workers to anti-union propaganda.
I'm surprised the employees were able to get to the state of agitation considering
how lazy they are.
I mean, they are so- Lay abouts.
I mean, how could you ever be agitated when you're footloose, fancy-free and
have no obligations, financial or otherwise.
Which by the way, isn't that what we should all aspire to?
That's what we should all aspire to, how amazing does that sound?
I want to be footloose, fancy-free employee.
Get you an employer who gets you to click your heels in the hallways,
you walk to the bathroom.
That's what you want, that's what you deserve as American workers.
But what do we really get here?
Bunch of employers who just wanna put us in a corner, right?
You wanna get a dirty dancing.
I think you're making a dirty dancing reference, yeah.
Most union provocateurs dancers of the dirty variety.
[LAUGH] My God, so the workers are fighting back, which I love to see.
They have filed complaints with the National Labor Relations Board, and
they're demanding an election to unionize.
This could take several weeks, maybe even months to hear if voting on the union
will be allowed, but there is a lot going on in Activision right now.
As I mentioned earlier, Microsoft has bought Activision.
In January Microsoft announced that it would buy the company for
a whopping $68.7 billion.
So clearly, they don't have the money to provide better working conditions and
pay for their employees.
Meanwhile, the California Department of Fair Employment and
Housing is suing Activision Blizzard alleging years of harassment and
abuse toward women in their workplace.
The Securities and
Exchange Commission is also investigating the company over its workplace issues.
Yeah. We actually shared that story with you in
a previous episode of the show, and
the accusations of sexual harassment are just so awful and disgusting.
They are. So
they're dealing with the consequences of that.
Hopefully, these investigations move forward, and hopefully,
the workers continue to fight back and get what they deserve and what they want.
Which is better representation at work, organized union that will help them
essentially fight for better conditions, better pay, and what they deserve.