"Our members remain united and continue to mobilize"
Call of Duty testers have voted to authorise a union strike. The union, formed back in March of 2024, is made up of almost 600 quality assurance workers at Activision, and plan to strike if conditions at the publisher don't change.
Activision Quality Assurance United-CWA bargaining committee member and QA functional tester Emily Danko shared a statement in a press release (thanks, Kotaku), saying, "Bargaining has been a long, exhausting process spanning over two years, with our committee making responsible moves while the company continues to stall on critical issues like wages, accommodations, and worker protections. Despite our efforts to bargain in good faith, meaningful progress has been difficult, leaving key issues unresolved. Our members remain united and continue to mobilize, but we are exploring every option available to secure the fair contract we deserve." Some of these protections, notably, include concerns over AI usage and contract workers.
In a statement provided to Kotaku, an Activision spokesperson said, "Activision has been working in good faith with the CWA for the Central QA team and we have made meaningful progress on a number of issues. Our goal is a fair first contract that supports our QA team members and the long-term success of the business. We remain committed to open dialogue with the union and have offered to meet again on October 21 and 22. We respect our employees’ right to engage in protected activity, including the right to strike."
This comes a week ahead of the launch of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4, the latest release in the rebooted line of Modern Warfare Games, a series that is still a part of the ongoing BDS-called boycott against Microsoft over its dealings with the Israeli military.
Another tester told Kotaku that their offices are at work every day to make progress on Modern Warfare 4, but in order to do that they, understandably, "expect fair pay, fair treatment, and the fair contract we’ve spent over two years bargaining for." The worker continued, "We’re forced to come into work everyday without fair accommodations and we continue to be under constant threat of sweeping layoffs without meaningful protections. Time and time again we’ve asked the company to meet us at the table to resolve these issues, and we’ve seen nothing but delays and unrealistic counters."
The vote to authorise a strike also comes less than a month after Xbox laid off yet more staff as part of their wider series of cuts, with more still to come, a fact that surely also looms over the heads of the unionised testers. Solidarity with the workers as always.