NEW: Activision Blizzard just told staff that all of its 1,100 quality assurance testers will be 1) converted from contract to full-time and 2) bumped up to at least $20/hour. A big win for QA in the wake of several worker revolts and a burgeoning union effort. Story soon

Slight clarification on my wording here: 1,100 is the number of temp and contract QA testers that are being converted to full-time, according to Activision Blizzard. There are other testers at the company who were *already* full-time staff.

Activision Blizzard PR sent out a blast to journalists this morning with the big news (featuring emails from studio heads) but did not mention that unionizing Raven QA testers are not part of it, which Bloomberg News learned shortly afterwards.

@jasonschreier So the good news is really just a union busting tactic, as they are counting on employees to drop their union attempt to be included in the deal.

@jasonschreier That is scummy as hell. Wow.

@jasonschreier Seems like retaliation for unionizing, or am I reading into it too much?

@jasonschreier And here I was, moments away from typing "rare ActiBlizz W"

@jasonschreier Ah, the point when you find out the chocolate sprinkles on the ice cream are not, in fact, chocolate.

@jasonschreier I almost thought, that this is a positive Activision news...

@jasonschreier "See? Look at us rewarding people for being good boys & girls and not unionizing. This is why you shouldn't unionize." "... But of course, we never would have even consider doing this if there wasn't such a huge push to unionize but... We're being good right? :) :) :)"

@jasonschreier I knew this “news” had to be because of a unionization effort. No way is a company suddenly have a conscious to do a decent thing like have full time workers and pay them more. I hope Raven stands firm and get their Union.

@jasonschreier Well, now. Excluding union members might be considered retaliatory and illegal.

@jasonschreier

@jasonschreier Workers at Raven want to unionize, Activison responds with raising wages and other benefits if Raven dont unionize. Think what a unionized Raven can acheive

@jasonschreier “it would be illegal to punish you for unionizing. Instead, we’re going to reward everyone BUT you, which is different.”

@jasonschreier After reading the whole thread, in a way since shinra would do this

@jasonschreier Union-busting technique, plain and simple.

@jasonschreier There is no catch. You wanted a CBA, you got it, that’s great. I think it’s a good thing, but you can’t get mad when someone gets something “better”. This is how a contract works.

@jasonschreier Well Jason you should know that the only way you can legally give raises to union employees is through collective barganing. You can't just defuse as a company to do anything with them. Is it a way to make it less interesting for other groups exactly. But it is a win win as they

@jasonschreier I'm sure the unionised group can use this as a starting point to negotiate their own contract.

@jasonschreier Wtg how is this legal. What a weird country lol

@jasonschreier hey can yall get your shit together i cant play warzone and i no longer have the phone # i registered my blizzard account so when i try to change it it sends the confirmation code to the old phone # who knows who has that shit now... please help i've sent messages to support