Tech giant Microsoft said Friday that it will not interfere with the employees of Activision, a company it is buying for $69 billion, attempting to form a union — a declaration which arrives as the game maker is hit with yet another sexual harassment lawsuit.
With the company roiled by nearly two years of sexual assault scandals and a new lawsuit, it is hardly surprising that workers at video game company Activision Blizzard are looking to form a union.
That is a process that a spokesperson just promised Microsoft (MSFT) will not try to subvert.
In the summer of 2020, California's Department of Fair Employment and Housing first accused Activision Blizzard of having a "frat boy" work culture, in which women would receive unwanted sexual advances and hear demeaning comments about their bodies.
How Did Things Get This Bad?
Reports that CEO Bobby Kotick was aware of the complaints but sat on them soon started surfacing in the press and, over the next year and a half, both shareholders and employees protested to little avail.
But this week, a new lawsuit alleging that leadership made derogatory sexual comments and, in one case, attempted to kiss a senior administrative assistant was filed in Los Angeles County Superior Court.
Microsoft Deal Stays Firm
Despite the earlier turmoil, in January Microsoft announced that it planned to acquire the maker of the popular "Call of Duty" video game for $69 billion this January.
When the news broke, 34 workers in charge of testing "Call of Duty: Warzone" for Activision Blizzard ATVI's Raven Software voted to form the Game Workers Alliance and called on Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella to encourage Activision to formally recognize their union.
Activision missed the Jan. 25 deadline set by the employees, while Microsoft also, up until now, did not formally respond.
On Thursday, Microsoft finally said that it was committed to respecting workers' "right to choose whether to be represented by a labor organization."
"Microsoft respects Activision Blizzard employees' right to choose whether to be represented by a labor organization and we will honor those decisions," a spokesperson told the Washington Post.
Do The Employees Believe It?
When news of the looming acquisition was first announced, many feared that a tech giant like Microsoft would make it even more difficult to fight for representation.
A major crackdown on employee organizing has been observed at places like Starbucks (SBUX) and Amazon (AMZN) leaves little confidence in big companies supporting larger unionization works.
In that letter, employees alleged that the Reed Smith law firm hired by Activision Blizzard had been publishing anti-union messaging on its website.
"I hope that you will agree that this demeaning and insulting approach to employees who are seeking to improve their workplace should not be tolerated," it read at the time.
A request for comment from the Activision employees attempting to form a union was not returned.
