Zenimax Workers United has “overwhelmingly voted” to authorize a strike against Microsoft.
More than 94% of the union has agreed to call a strike in the event that contract negotiations break.
Zenimax World United, which is part of the Communication Workers of America (CWA), was formed in 2023 and represents more than 300 quality guarantee workers in Maryland and Texas.
He has been negotiating a first contract with Microsoft for almost two years, and the members of the negotiation committee continue to fight for “better salaries, improvements in the workplace, lack of remote work options and the replacement of the company of the work of internal quality guarantee with labor without a nucleus without notifying the Union.”
“Insufficient and RTO payment initiatives have caused many of us to make our lives in pause because our income does not even coincide in the growing cost of living in cities where Zenimax insists that we live and work to maintain employment,” said the member of the Senior and Senior Quality Control of Quality Control Zachary Armstrong.
“None of us want it to have reached this, but Microsoft and Zenimax continue to demonstrate at the negotiating table that are not willing to pay us fair wages for the value that our workforce provides to our games, we will show you how valuable our workforce is.”
The member of the union and associated tester of QA, Aubrey Litchfield, added: “Despite being one of the world’s largest corporations, we have had to continually fight for what the minimum should be.
“Paying its employees a habitable salary as a multimillion -dollar company is the least they could be doing; however, when it is addressed in the negotiation table, Microsoft acts as if we were asking for too much.”
Litchfield continued: “Our internal contractors have been working on minimum wages without benefits, including the paid disease time. Workers choose not to start families due to the uncertainty of finance. We have launched multiple titles while we work completely remote. When will it be enough?”
In response to the authorization of the strike, Microsoft told The Verge that there have been “substantial progress in the course of negotiations, reaching tentative agreements on most of the issues on the table.”
“We respect the team’s right to express their views and we are deeply committed to achieving a fair and equitable resolution that recognizes the contributions of the team,” he said.
“We have presented a package proposal that we believe is fair: if they are accepted, it would result in immediate compensation increases, even more robust benefits and is aligned with the hybrid model of the three -day company in office. We hope to continue this progress during the negotiations.”
In November 2024, hundreds of employees of the Zenimax United workers retired in response to the developer’s position on the remote work policy and the subcontracting of quality guarantee work.
The CWA presented an unfair job against Microsoft as a result.
