[UPDATE] Proletariat Workers Organize To Create The Proletariat Workers Alliance, Ask To Be Voluntarily Recognized

Proletariat, Inc, the studio that made the spell-slinging Battle Royale Spellbreak and recently was acquired by Activision Blizzard, announced today that the workers have organized into a union and are asking for management to voluntarily recognize the union.

In a series of tweets this morning, the workers at Proletariat became the third studio at Activision Blizzard to file for unionization, following the votes at Raven Software and Blizzard Albany, formerly known as Vicarious Visions. Proletariat was bought by Activision Blizzard earlier this year to help support development on Blizzard's World of Warcraft. 

According to Engadget, the whole of the non-management workforce at Proletariat is unionizing, rather than simply the QA workers as has been the case in the past. The union is working with the Communications Workers of America to unionize, following suit with Albany and Raven Software's efforts.

In a detailed thread on Twitter, The Proletariat Workers Alliance lays out their goals and reasons for forming the union, including ensuring progressive, "human-first benefits" including flexible PTO, remote work and healthcare. Additionally, they are asking for "open and transparent communication" surrounding pay, ensuring that workers are paid a "thriving wage." Additionally, the union is requesting. that overtime is "never mandatory," and that by refusing to do so, this won't affect evaluations at the company.

We are excited to announce that the workers of Proletariat have asked management to voluntarily recognize our union, the Proletariat Workers Alliance. 1/14 pic.twitter.com/JtYTCvJT5X

— Proletariat Workers Alliance (CWA) (@WeArePWA_CWA) December 27, 2022

We've reached out to Activision Blizzard for comment and will update this story if one is provided.

[UPDATE: 12:45 PM PT] Activision Blizzard has provided MMORPG with the following statement in response to our request for comment: 

"Our top priority remains our employees and we continue to believe a direct relationship with them is the most productive. We value the contributions the talented Proletariat team has made since joining our company this summer. We’ve received the petition, and will be providing a formal public response to the NLRB in the coming days."

Original story continues:

You can check out the full thread by the PWA on Twitter. The specter of Microsoft's looming purchase of Activision Blizzard hangs over this, as Microsoft has already pledged to voluntarily recognize unionization efforts at the company once it's part of the tech giant's portfolio. Earlier this year, Microsoft backed up this claim by voluntarily recognizing the forming union at ZeniMax Studios, which includes over 300 employees as the largest union in the games industry to date.