Microsoft is converting workers from ZeniMax Workers United from contract work into unionized employees. This affects 23 out of 77 workers in the group and means both access to benefits and a pay raise.
Originally reported by Bloomberg’s Josh Eidelson, this decision follows Microsoft's agreement in January to recognize the union and assertion it would bargain with ZeniMax Workers United. The contract negotiations have been going on since April, according to Communications Workers of America, which represents the union. ZeniMax Workers United is a group of more than 300 QA workers represented by the CWA. This group that Microsoft is agreeing to elevate to work employee status consists of 77 contract workers. Because 23 workers have been doing similar work to full employees, they have gained status equivalent to those employees in the bargaining negotiations. What this means is they will have access to benefits and sick leave.
Breaking! As a result of extensive worker organizing, Microsoft has agreed to incorporate a group of 77 Microsoft contract workers into the ZeniMax Workers United-CWA union (@ZeniMaxWorkers)!Thread??https://t.co/5CScGwzGRC
— CODE-CWA (@CODE_CWA) December 8, 2023
The CWA said that some of these contractors were set to lose their jobs this fall. The 23 that will now be full-time employees will get 22% pay increases in addition to benefits. The others represented will get temporary assignments as Microsoft employees and a per-hour raise. They’ll also get another perk that was previously denied to contract workers: a copy of Starfield. Those workers did work on Bethesda’s latest release, after all.
While this the culmination of more than half a year's negotiation, the union says that it will still continue to try and get more permanent jobs for the contract workers it represents.
Microsoft, including during and after its acquisition of Activision Blizzard, has vowed a neutral position towards unionization, and a decision to bargain with groups of employees who do decide that unionization is their preference.
