Breaking New Ground: Raven Workers Launch Video Game Union

Workers at Raven Software’s quality assurance (QA) department in Madison, WI today launched their new union, the Game Workers Alliance Union, with the Communications Workers of America (CWA). They are seeking voluntary recognition from their employer as a supermajority of workers express their desire to form a union at the studio owned by video game giant Activision Blizzard. These video game employees mostly work on the popular Call of Duty series.

“Today, I am proud to join with a supermajority of my fellow workers to build our union, Game Workers Alliance (CWA). In the video game industry, specifically Raven QA, people are passionate about their jobs and the content they are creating,” said Becka Aigner, QA functional tester II at Raven. “We want to make sure that the passion from these workers is accurately reflected in our workplace and the content we make. Our union is how our collective voices can be heard by leadership.”

On Dec. 6, more than 60 Raven workers walked out in protest after Activision Blizzard laid off 12 of the studio’s QA testers. The Raven QA strike was the third work stoppage since Activision Blizzard was sued in late July over sexual harassment and misconduct claims. Earlier this week, CWA responded to Microsoft’s plan to acquire Activision Blizzard and called for workers’ voices to be heard in the future direction of the company.