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Title: Union Contract with Microsoft Ratified by 1,900 Blizzard Developers
and Workers

Link: https://games.slashdot.org/story/26/09/14/015...

Nearly 1900 Blizzard Entertainment workers "voted to ratify their first union
contract with parent company Microsoft after over two years of bargaining,"
reports Kotaku, "consolidating Blizzard's many smaller unions into three
larger bargaining units." The workers now gain new protections "on issues
such as generative AI, crediting, remote work, and layoffs." [The contract]
acknowledges that AI tools "may be useful in the game development process to
support human judgment and creativity and that AI-assisted workflows remain
subject to appropriate human control and review for accuracy and quality."
But it also stipulates that any implementation of AI technology that would
materially impact work performed by union employees must have its impacts
bargained over before it can be implemented. Other sections cover issues such
as crediting (guaranteeing that current and former employees are credited by
name in all games they work on) and remote work (designating certain roles as
hybrid in-office and providing procedures for individuals to apply for their
roles to be fully remote). It also contains a lengthy section on how layoffs
may be conducted, including a required 60-day notice period (or pay in lieu
of notice), a guarantee of one week of severance for every six months of
employment, and 14 months of recall rights. The contract also guarantees
successorship, meaning if Blizzard is ever acquired by another company, the
contract would remain intact. "Workers also contractually locked in their
current hybrid work schedule," reports the gaming news site Aftermath,
"meaning that Blizzard can't suddenly change it, as has been a labor-
unfriendly trend in the games industry over the past couple years." Fully
remote workers scored a big win as well. "I'm remote, and we grandfathered
everyone who is remote to stay remote, so we can't be magically called to an
office that we've never worked at before," [said Diablo senior environment
artist Mahreen Fatima]. And "The contract also elevated pay floor," reports
the Yakima Herald-Republic. "Across the board, workers secured a 1.25% pay
increase, but some workers who were paid below $50,000 per year will walk
away with pay increases that are as much as 34%."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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