Workers at Blizzard Entertainment approved this Wednesday (9) their first collective bargaining agreements with the company, in an agreement covering about 1,900 employees and establishes protections for layoffs, remote work and the use of artificial intelligence. The contracts were negotiated with the Communications Workers of America (CWA) over two years.
The terms go into effect for unionized teams of World of Warcraft, Overwatch, Diablo, Hearthstone, Warcraft Rumble and other areas of Blizzard, including quality, technology and franchise development.
Among the main changes, the company will have to discuss, evaluate and negotiate with workers the use of AI in the workplace. The rule creates a formal process to address the adoption of the technology in positions covered by the contracts, rather than leaving those decisions solely under the company's control.
Protections against layoffs
The contracts also establish new guarantees for employees affected by cuts. Laid-off workers will have the right, for 14 months after the layoff announcement, to be considered for open positions in any unionized unit of Blizzard.
The agreement also provides for four additional weeks of severance for unionized workers, regardless of tenure. The measures were negotiated at a time of recurring layoffs in the gaming industry and within Microsoft's own gaming division, Blizzard's parent company.
Other points include wage increases, formal procedures for contesting employment decisions, protection against dismissal without cause, accommodations for people with disabilities and the maintenance of remote work options. The hybrid arrangement establishes three days per week in the office.
According to CWA, the agreement ends two years of negotiations and consolidates into contracts the conditions of the different union units formed within Blizzard in recent years.
