Blizzard workers strike and GoFundMe page!

[Paperfox]

The thing about unions is that if they are needed it says something really bad about the employer.

Finally a reason for a delay in content that is worthwhile.

[Gorsameth]

Looks like blizzard is trying to cast doubt on unions hoping people won’t go with it.

I love how it tries to imply that 'random coder #61' has any shot in hell of negotiating his own working conditions against the behemoth that is a major companies HR + Legal department.

Its no cost to sign away rights you never had and never will have without a unified front that actually holds power to put to their demands.

[Lorgar Aurelian]

I love how it tries to imply that 'random coder #61' has any shot in hell of negotiating his own working conditions against the behemoth that is a major companies HR + Legal department.

Its no cost to sign away rights you never had and never will have without a unified front that actually holds power to put to their demands.

Honestly I could see it working if working conditions were ok and people thought there was a lot of upwards mobility if they work hard, you know hide behind the false idea of the American dream and all that.

But with the reality of blizzard and hoe it’s been a shit hole for a long time you'd just have to be incredibly stupid to buy a word of this.

[Edge-]

I love how it tries to imply that 'random coder #61' has any shot in hell of negotiating his own working conditions against the behemoth that is a major companies HR + Legal department.

Its no cost to sign away rights you never had and never will have without a unified front that actually holds power to put to their demands.

"We've ignored you for years upon years, but if you sign up for a union than we'll be FORCED to ignore you and just deal with the more powerful union! Please let us continue ignoring you without consequence, we really don't like dealing with unions who have negotiating power."

None of those "commitments" change whether staff are union or not. If anything, unionizing provides staff with more power to ensure those commitments are actually acted upon, not just spoken into the ether and lost forever.

[Dch48]

The strike is ridiculous. Get back to work.

[Gorsameth]

Honestly I could see it working if working conditions were ok and people thought there was a lot of upwards mobility if they work hard, you know hide behind the false idea of the American dream and all that.

But with the reality of blizzard and hoe it’s been a shit hole for a long time you'd just have to be incredibly stupid to buy a word of this.

Right, but if that were the case employees would be happy and not feel a need to unionise in the first place

[oplawlz]

That's a pretty unfair take. The specific demand - “(2) the adoption of inclusive recruitment and hiring practices” isn't saying they 'get a say in who gets hired', but just want it so it's not just white dude-bro buds who are getting hired.

No one should ever be hired or fired based on their sex, color, or creed. That's an entirely debatable topic, whereas sexual harassment (or harassment of any kind) is not. Those things should not be conflated. One is ideological, where the other is basic human decency.

[Mokrath]

Sad to see all the people not understanding how workers rights we have today were made possible.
This corporate backslide bullshit into wage-slaves as they lobby for workers rights to be slowly eroded really has done a number on some people.
People striking have always relied on others for support, the internet just lets them streamline it and reach out further than ever before.

The GoFundMe has nothing to do with ABK, it's literal people trying to fight for the rights of themselves and other workers to not get shit on by mega corps.

[Val the Moofia Boss]

looks like they are going for a full union. https://twitter.com/valentine_irl/st...02466926608386

Good luck with that. People have been trying to unionize the video games industry for decades. The problem is that the industry is oversaturated. There are far, far too many people willing to get in and work and get paid crap, just so they can work on video games.

[Edge-]

Good luck with that. People have been trying to unionize the video games industry for decades. The problem is that the industry is oversaturated. There are far, far too many people willing to get in and work and get paid crap, just so they can work on video games.

Things are starting to change, thankfully. Like, taking the step to sign union auth cards is a big one and I can't remember the last unionization attempt that made it anywhere near this far along.

I mean sure, there's potentially an endless supply of folks that want to work in the industry. But matching skills and experience with needs will be the problem for studios where union pushes are successful and the dev/publisher wants to pick up scabs. Also, hard to replace a full dev team mid-way through the development process.

[Val the Moofia Boss]

so they want people to pay them for not working? but i have to work, to pay them, to not work? seems kinda, not right. lol

If you want a comfortable, stable life, don't work in the video games industry. A common practice for many big AAA studios is to fire nearly everyone after the release of a game, because paying their salaries until production on the next game starts up is a waste to the suits. You are overworked as crunch is budgeted into a game's production, and you can't say no because if you do then you're going to be replaced because there are two dozen other candidates waiting to take your place. And if you work as an indie, you're statistically never going to release a hit. You're going to live frugally and/or work a second job.

If you are an artist, you'll get straight up better working conditions and pay working for television or movies or advertisements. If you're a programmer you should probably jump over to working on an insurance company's servers or websites.

[Lorgar Aurelian]

Good luck with that. People have been trying to unionize the video games industry for decades. The problem is that the industry is oversaturated. There are far, far too many people willing to get in and work and get paid crap, just so they can work on video games.

Ya i doubt blizzard has the ball's to try something like sacking the union in there current climate.

[Cracked]

Like.. I get it, at the same time it's hard for me to produce any sympathy given how exceptionally dogshit Blizzard products have been in last 2-3 years. Can't say any customer facing facet of the business has been doing "good work", so to speak.

[Val the Moofia Boss]

Cost of living in Irvine is about 1.5x higher than the national average. You probably couldn't comfortably live in Orange County on $50-60k but you could commute in from a neighboring city and get a roommate or a one bedroom apartment or something. A one bedroom in Irvine is about $2k a month on average.

You can't just live in a neighboring city. You're going to need to live as much as 30-50 miles away from Irvine or Orange to get remotely affordable housing (and the price of housing in California continues to rise at mind boggling rates. This year there has been an exodus as people just can no longer afford the cost of living and are quitting the state entirely, though some analysts think it's an artificial bubble. We'll see). Highway traffic towards Orange and Irvine is awful and you're going to be stuck in traffic for an hour one way. Spending 2 hours in traffic for 5 days a week, every week, for who knows how many years... it makes you miserable. Sure you can listen to podcasts or audiobooks for the first few years, but it gnaws at you and makes you grumpy and ruins your relationships. It can also harm your career prospects if you're grumpy enough that you snap at your boss. Fortunately working from home has started becoming acceptable since last year so theoretically it doesn't matter where you live, but it's uncertain what the standards on that will be as some companies still require that you come in for work every now and then.

[shadowmatrix]

No one should ever be hired or fired based on their sex, color, or creed. That's an entirely debatable topic, whereas sexual harassment (or harassment of any kind) is not. Those things should not be conflated. One is ideological, where the other is basic human decency.

Yet history shows us the basic human decency often gets shoved under the rug. Job hirings in America often involved race, sex, and sometimes religion. Restricting jobs is one of the main ways group keep other groups stuck in lower societal brackets, less money means less influence in politics.

You don't get things changed by pretending the problem doesn't exist.

[Edge-]

If you want a comfortable, stable life, don't work in the video games industry.

It shouldn't be this way, and that's part of what these folks are organizing for.

[florclorbromiod]

When employees are being treated badly: " Blizzard, treat them better, they're responsible for your success, you can't afford to fire/lose them! "

The same people for the last 2 years: " Blizzard your games suck! "

Well golly gee, maybe Blizzard should just get rid of them then?

This whole mess sounds like employees that aren't all that good at their job trying to twist the arm of a company into paying them more when really the products they've put out aren't that good. What are you being paid for? To make bad games and go on strike?

[Edge-]

Well golly gee, maybe Blizzard should just get rid of them then?

It's almost like every time a game comes out and is a disaster, and we get an investigative report looking into the shitshow of the development process, that it reports on developers working their asses off to make the best game they can in incredibly shitty situations, where the failures are primarily on company leadership and management for treating workers like shit, failing to lead and respond to problems, and related issues.

It's hard to make good games when you're working in a toxic environment without proper staffing, tools, or support.

[florclorbromiod]

It's almost like every time a game comes out and is a disaster, and we get an investigative report looking into the shitshow of the development process, that it reports on developers working their asses off to make the best game they can in incredibly shitty situations, where the failures are primarily on company leadership and management for treating workers like shit, failing to lead and respond to problems, and related issues.

It's hard to make good games when you're working in a toxic environment without proper staffing, tools, or support.

Allegedly. It's pretty hard for me to accept all these accusations spanning 13 years or so when they all show up in the last few months and I had never heard anything like it in the last decade. You're telling me no one blew the whistle on it in the 2010s ? During MeToo? Doubt.

It's hard to make good games when you're working in a toxic environment without proper staffing, tools, or support.

People make good games in a basement. Also supposedly the worst happened during the Old Guards' time, so years ago. You know, when the game was better. So what is the excuse of the current employees if the old ones were putting out diamonds while being so horribly oppressed? Why can't the workers of today do that, if most of the harassment happened back then?

[Video Games]

It's hard to make good games when you're working in a toxic environment without proper staffing, tools, or support.

You guys always say this shit and yet japan, which has a far worse work and school culture, makes vastly better games.