If this discussion could in any way lead to my being disciplined or terminated, or affect my personal working conditions, I respectfully request that my Union Representative or Steward be present at this meeting. Until my Representative arrives, I choose not to participate in this discussion
MN Video Game Workers to Rally for Health Accommodations
Date: Friday, October 25th 2024 Time: 12 Noon-1:00pm
Location: 7699 Anagram Drive, Eden Prairie, MN 55344
This Friday employees at the Activision quality assurance department in Eden Prairie MN will rally for the right to Work-from-Home accommodations. Since January of this year Activision and its new parent-company, Microsoft, have enforced a strict Return-to-Office policy despite more than two years of successfully working from home entirely or in hybrid with in-office
The employees, who work on the famous Call of Duty games, (including the brand new Black Ops 6 Campaign), are particularly outraged that Activision is even refusing work-from-home accommodations for workers with ADA-certified medical conditions. Many Activision workers believe that the company is refusing accommodations as a way to force them to quit, "a layoff wolf in return-to-office sheep’s clothing", as Fortune magazine described similar policies at other corporations. https://fortune.com/2023/06/15/at-t-office-mandates-disguised-layoffs/
Despite multiple requests from the Union representing the video-game workers, Activision and Microsoft have been unable to articulate why specifically they are insisting workers must work in the office - even those with serious medical conditions and doctor's recommendations to work from home.
The workers aren't waiting however. Earlier this month over 300 Activision employees signed a petition demanding the return of work-from-home options, and workers in Texas and California will support their colleagues by rallying on Friday at their own offices. This past March, workers at Activision's quality assurance division voted overwhelmingly to join the Communications Workers of America union, forming one of the largest video game workers unions in the world. https://cwa-union.org/news/releases/quality-assurance-workers-activision-establish-largest-certified-union-us-video-game
Media Contacts:
Allen Junge,CWA 7250 Steward, Activision employee 507-993-4065
Andrew Snell, CWA 7250 Steward, Activision employee 612-309-7053
Kara Fanon, CWA 7250 Steward, Activision employee 301-404-1780
Email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
The results are in - from the first ever CWA Local 7250 Straw Poll on a U.S. Presidential Election!
Results
CWA 7250 members from AT&T, Activision, DirecTV, Sassafras, and CWA Staff registered there response to the question "WHO WOULD YOU MOST LIKE TO SEE UNIONS SUPPORT IN THE 2024 U.S. PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION?" with the following results:
63%Kamala Harris/Tim Walz (Democratic Party)
15% Donald Trump/JD Vance (Republican Party)
14%None of the Above
(Unions Should Build an Independent, Militant Movement Against & Outside of the Political System)
3%No Preference
1% Jill Stein (Green Party Write-In)
1%Jesus is My Lord (Write-In)
While not as many of our members participated as we would have liked (just over 15% in a short window), we believe this is a meaningful sample of our Local membership's preferences. We were also not able to host a Town-Hall Zoom, as we had originally planned, due to scheduling conflicts of members willing to present for their preferences
The Local's Executive Board discussed the results and unanimously voted not to endorse any candidate, but instead to inform the CWA Minnesota State Council's political coordinator of the results, and allow the State Council to recruit volunteers from CWA 7250's membership for the Fall Campaign.
Any Local member that is interested in participating in campaigns for the national union's endorsed candidates can contact the CWA MN State Council here: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..
No CWA Local 7250 funds from dues will be used for electoral campaigns.
(Small d) democratic Process for the Membership
We believe our modest efforts at conducting a member-driven democratic decision-making process for choosing which candidates the union should (or shouldn't) support can serve as a positive counterexample to a process where only the highest leaders in the union make a decision. We believe that decision-making in the Union at the Local, State, District, and International levels should be bottom-up - not top-down.
We plan to share our example with State, District, Sector,and International leadership - and encourage the Union to welcome and encourage democratic debate and decision-making.
Thank You!
Thanks to all who participated - we appreciate everyone's contribution to this effort. Please get in touch if you have any questions, concerns, or ideas you'd like to share.
Well, it seems the company has discovered the fine art of reading our bargaining reports spending as much time at the table on reviewing bargaining reports as was spent talking about proposals. It's nice to know they’ve got time for some light reading, but maybe they could take a break from being our biggest fans and invest more time focusing on and responding to our biggest issues. If only their dedication to reading was matched by a dedication to fairness and progress. But hey, at least we know we have an audience!
In the latest twist of our ongoing saga, it appears the company’s hired promoters can't even get our name right. While customers call us rose, promoters call us grove - maybe they think we’re selling trees now, who knows? The continual misnaming is emblematic of the carelessness and lack of attention to detail that has plagued these negotiations.
Despite the ongoing identity crisis, our team remains laser-focused on securing a contract that reflects who we really are: Rove Pest Control, not Grove, not Glove, not "Whatever-Else-They-Make-Up-Next" Pest Control.
Respectfully Submitted, CWA 7250 Bargaining team at Rove Co-Chairs: Bruce Nielsen & Shari Wojtowicz Members: Greg Bute, Hector Capote Alternate: Zach Sager
In this latest round of negotiations, the company continues to astound with their creative approach to the truth. Every blatant inconsistency in their proposals can conveniently be chalked up to "typos" We’re told to disregard these “minor” errors, but funny how these “typos” seem to benefit them and not us.
We’ve spent more time fixing "typos" than negotiating real terms. At this point, we’re starting to wonder if we need a grammar teacher at the table instead of legal counsel. Despite the company’s creative writing, we remain focused on holding them accountable for every word—whether it's a so-called typo or another attempt to sugarcoat a blatant lie.
As if the situation couldn’t get more absurd, they’re demanding that anyone working from home must have homeowner’s insurance. Yes, because clearly, the real risk of remote work is your office spontaneously combusting while you’re answering pest concerns. They seem to believe that in the comfort of our homes, we’re running black-market businesses or hosting parties during lunch breaks. The idea that we need insurance for simply sitting at our home computer is just another bureaucratic hoop they want us to jump through.
Respectfully Submitted, CWA 7250 Bargaining team at Rove Co-Chairs: Bruce Nielsen & Shari Wojtowicz Members: Greg Bute, Hector Capote Alternate: Zach Sager
