Microsoft's friendliness to unionization has been a major tech story of 2022. Here's a compelling report on how ZeniMax's QA unionization efforts are going by @SamuelTolbert. https://t.co/9Es2WYGSrI
— Jez (@JezCorden) December 22, 2022
Snippets
QA is infamous for facing issues across the gaming industry, with low pay, systemic crunch, and the denial of future opportunities just some of the issues facing the workers responsible for crucial elements of a game's production.
When asked why the teams are unionizing, Burton clearly states that one of the biggest issues comes down to pay, as everyone unionizing agrees the workers' payment hasn't kept up with the cost of living, with many employees having to share apartments with multiple roommates.
"We're all grateful that Microsoft has been working in good faith with us and has agreed to this neutrality agreement," Burton said. "And we're pretty optimistic that we're going to be able to work out a good contract. And hopefully, that will serve as sort of a precedent for other studios hoping to do the same thing."
"In fact, I've had nothing but encouraging conversations whenever I had to ask a manager or someone from HR, just a clarification on like, 'Hey, is it okay if I, you know, send this email or something? I don't want to step on anybody's toes,'" Burton says. "And they've all been very genuine and, at the very least neutral. And then better than that, usually. So I'm pretty encouraged by the interactions I've had so far with management."
"I hope that we can get people to decide to stay in QA," they say, adding that "QA specifically has historically had a really bad problem with turnover. And it makes it hard for us to retain talent and expertise when other fields or other positions elsewhere are more attractive. "
