Activision Blizzard Employees Will Strike in Protest of Company's Lawsuit Response

Just days after the state of California filed a lawsuit against Activision Blizzard for harmful workplace practices, discrimination, and sexual harassment, company employees told Bloomberg they are holding a strike at Blizzard on July 28 in protest of the company's response.

That response said, among other things, that the lawsuit came from overeager state bureaucrats investigating distorted claims of misconduct.

Prior to announcing the Blizzard strike, 2,000 employees signed an open letter condemning the response as "insulting and abhorrent" for its failure to accurately represent values of Activision Blizzard staff.

While the walkout represents collective action on the part of Activision Blizzard employees, Bloomberg's Jason Schreier said one of the people organizing the strike said the workers are not considering unionization at this time.

Read more: No work is being done on WoW in light of the Activision Blizzard lawsuit

Activision-Blizzard Employees Will Strike in Protest of Company's Lawsuit Response

Bloomberg said the strike includes a number of demands from Activision Blizzard employees:

• The end of mandatory arbitration clauses
• Transparent salary, promotion, and compensation rates made available to all employees
• New recruitment practices "agreed upon by employees in a company-wide Diversity, Equity & Inclusion organization"
• The creation of a diversity task force that hires a third party to monitor company leadership and human resources practices

All this is in aid of protecting the company's marginalized employees, "especially women, and in particular women of color and transgender women, nonbinary people, and other marginalized groups," the organizers told Bloomberg.

In addition to numerous instances of discrimination and sexually predatory practices, the state's investigation linked an Activision Blizzard employee's suicide to continued severe harassment she faced in the workplace.

Read more: Leagues condemn Activision Blizzard response to California lawsuit

[Source: Bloomberg]