After employees filed allegations against Activision Blizzard and worked to form a video game employee union, Activision Blizzard hired a law firm known for its anti-union stance. Now, new information from another law firm associated with the company shows how that law firm feels about union employees.
This information was provided by Jessica Gonzalez, a senior quality engineer who worked at Activision Blizzard. Reed Smith LLP, which represented Activision Blizzard at the National Industrial Relations Council hearing, released a slide that angered members of the entire employee community on social media. The slide was allegedly made as part of a presentation that explained the ways in which employers could avoid having their employees form or join a union, but the way in which the said employees were mentioned was highly inappropriate.
The slide shows "types of employees exploited by unions," classifying them as "lazy, incapacitated, or low-capacity," "rebel," and "complainer," among other things. The slide has been taken down, but the viewer took a screenshot and archived it. Needless to say, those who struggled to create or join unions inside or outside Activision Blizzard didn't accept the release of this slide very well. Some were outraged by the claims, while others responded with humor and began to mock the outdated terminology on the list.
This isn't the first time the Activision Blizzard employee community has been discouraged from trying to join or form a union. While Activision Blizzard has been carefully wording its statements, emails and Slack messages sent by members of the company have left employees angry or upset, containing warnings about the potential consequences for the organization.