Activision Blizzard CEO denies tradition of harassment and blames unions for firm issues

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In 2021, the state of California sued Activision Blizzard alleging that the online game writer fostered a pervasive tradition of harassment going again years. Particulars within the swimsuit spoke of “dice crawls” the place male workers would get drunk and stroll across the office subjecting feminine workers to inappropriate conduct. It alleged that male workers would pawn off duties to their feminine co-workers, how girls of coloration have been handed up for alternatives given to much less tenured employees, and the way a senior World of Warcraft developer was so notorious for his harassment of ladies that his workplace was nicknamed the “Cosby suite.” However information of the swimsuit was simply the opening salvo in what would change into a battery of reporting, documenting the sorts of harassment that went on at Activision Blizzard. Present and former workers shared their tales, together with how a girl was demoted for allegedly reporting her harasser, how a nursing mom had her breast milk stolen from firm fridges, and the way one worker’s sexual harassment led to their demise by suicide.Amidst that reporting, The Wall Avenue Journal launched its personal report accusing Activision Blizzard CEO Bobby Kotick of realizing about, ignoring, and, in some instances, perpetrating harassment of his workers. Kotick has apologized for some allegations, together with one the place he left a voicemail threatening to have his assistant killed, however denied others. And in a brand new interview with Selection, Kotick additional denied that Activision Blizzard had any pervasive points with abuse. As an alternative, he blamed labor organizers for the corporate’s issues.“We’ve had each doable type of investigation finished. And we didn’t have a systemic challenge with harassment — ever,” he mentioned within the interview. “However what we did have was a really aggressive labor motion working arduous to attempt to destabilize the corporate.”Kotick described the reporting finished on worker harassment and abuse at Activision Blizzard as “mischaracterizations” whereas asserting that the corporate has a comparatively low proportion of harassment complaints for its 17,000 workers. A transparency report, launched Wednesday, outlined the corporate’s standing in relation to a number of acknowledged targets like rising the variety of girls it employs and the variety of harassment claims it acquired and acted upon. In accordance with the report, the corporate investigated 116 complaints and was capable of substantiate 31 of them, leading to some form of motion. Nonetheless the report seems to omit the entire variety of claims it acquired. We additionally know that Activision Blizzard agreed to pay the Safety and Alternate Fee $35 million after it decided that the corporate didn’t have correct reporting constructions in place. Activision Blizzard additionally settled its swimsuit with the Equal Employment Alternative Fee (EEOC) for $18 million — a settlement the state of California tried and failed to dam, citing considerations that it might hinder its personal case, and legal professional Lisa Bloom, recognized for litigating high-profile harassment instances and counsel for a Blizzard worker, referred to as “woefully insufficient.”Whereas Kotick was fast in charge unions for lots of the firm’s personnel points, he additionally claimed to assist unions, stating that he’s not anti-union as a result of he’s a member of a union himself — becoming a member of SAG-AFTRA for his look in Moneyball — and due to his mom.“I’ve a mom who was a trainer. I’ve no aversion to a union,” he mentioned. “What I do have an aversion to is a union that doesn’t play by the foundations.”Talking of “enjoying by the foundations,” Activision Blizzard has had a number of unfair labor observe complaints filed in opposition to it. The Nationwide Labor Relations Board (NLRB) has discovered benefit in a number of of those complaints, together with unlawful surveillance, threatening workers’ protected rights, and illegally withholding compensation due to union exercise.Morale at Activision Blizzard has taken a beating these final two years, and workers have responded to all of the information with walkouts, calls for for Kotick’s resignation, organizing for higher therapy, and profitable historic victories for the online game labor motion in North America. Proper now, Activision Blizzard is within the midst of a sale to Microsoft — a sale that was thought may save the corporate from its sordid current and Kotick himself through golden parachute. Now that the deal has been credibly threatened by regulators, it looks like Kotick is deploying a brand new technique to restore his and his firm’s fame — by blaming everybody however himself.

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