6 ms·

"Update: An Activision Blizzard spokesperson says that the company will not willingly recognize GWA Albany." Gonna go down kicking and screaming instead of jus

"Update: An Activision Blizzard spokesperson says that the company will not willingly recognize GWA Albany." Gonna go down kicking and screaming instead of just doing better.

nimbius 4y ago
I work in a union shop, and ive been in shops that have unionized. before the inks dried the company is going to throw every single thing they have at you to fight. youll get calls, youll get meetings, youll get your hours chopped stretched and moved all over the place. management will tell you what youre doing is illegal, that they can close the shop and walk away, that all your benefits will go away. and in the end, youll take a 15k raise, pick up some nice new PPE, sit at the same table as management and ask them to recall why they said all these things that werent true while they tell you they do not comment on any prior business conducted outside of a union agreement. our union ended mandatory overtime, slashed shift injuries, got healthier vending machines, and got health insurance for everyone.
- Ekaros 4y ago
  >healthier vending machines? As in less injuries from them or?
  - FrenchDevRemote 4y ago
    as in food that won't kill you in the next 20 years I guess
    - chrsig 4y ago
      or food that hasn't been there for the last 20 years, possibly
  - wccrawford 4y ago
    I assume that means foods that aren't just sugar and empty calories in general.
    - Ekaros 4y ago
      That sounds as net negative to me... At least if it removed choice.
      - wccrawford 4y ago
        It wasn't that long ago that I've have also been disappointed in the change, but today I'd be happy about it. So yeah, so long as there's more options, rather than just completely changing everything to be "healthy", I think it's an improvement. Otherwise, someone gets the shaft.
      - Volundr 4y ago
        Seems like it's adding choice, once there was only junk, now there's some healthier options. Even if it removed the junk in favor of health food it's still the same amount of choice, now it's just the people who want junk that have to source it elsewhere instead of the people who want healthier options.
      - nemothekid 4y ago
        Sure he got a 15k raise..., but they removed doritos from the vending machine.
      - deleted 4y ago
        [deleted]
      - jacobolus 4y ago
        If you spend all day eating carrot sticks and peanuts and drinking unsweetened iced tea vs. eating Snickers bars and Cheetos and drinking Coca Cola (or whatever), after a few months you’ll see a pretty big difference. Many people will eat whatever snacks are available against their better judgment, and then regret it later. Having unhealthy snacks there and in people’s faces is a kind of psychological manipulation that takes some people nontrivial willpower to overcome. If someone really wants candy bars, they can bring them from home.
        Ekaros 4y ago
  - ketralnis 4y ago
    The vending machines are required to exercise at least 30 minutes per day
- p4bl0 4y ago
  Congrats!
- skeeter2020 4y ago
  >> our union ended mandatory overtime, slashed shift injuries, got healthier vending machines, and got health insurance for everyone. With perhaps the exception of health care, none of which seems relevant to white-collar office workers though.
  - kevin_thibedeau 4y ago
    Insurance companies give discounts for employers that institute wellness programs. The healthier food on site is part of that.
  - badrequest 4y ago
    Do you seriously think that checks notes video game QA workers are not subject to concepts like mandatory overtime?
  - pseudalopex 4y ago
    The article said 1 of the QA workers' complaints is crunch. Crunch is mandatory overtime. And they want to change disciplinary processes. Many office workers have fancy chairs and so on to prevent injuries. And how are healthier snacks and drinks not relevant to office workers?
- throwaway0a5e 4y ago
  >and in the end, youll take a 15k raise, pick up some nice new PPE, sit at the same table as management and ask them to recall why they said all these things that werent true while they tell you they do not comment on any prior business conducted outside of a union agreement. And all your up and coming young techs you were hoping to train into more advanced positions leave to your competitors who can actually offer them a quick promotion and raise outside of the stupid seniority and job title based system the union got you and the workplace steadily inches toward "everyone does exactly their job and nothing more" type clock punching culture that makes everyone hate work. Whether the tradeoffs are worth it is an argument I'm willing to have. but don't lie to us and act like there's no downsides.
  - 93po 4y ago
    >everyone does exactly their job and nothing more Great! This is awesome. People shouldn't be doing work for free to the benefit of multibillion dollar companies.
    - throwaway0a5e 4y ago
      I meant like the processing equipment fucks off and starts spilling product on the floor and the half crippled janitor has to struggle to turn it off while everyone else looks on because they're on their lunch break so it's not their problem. And then they all give the one fork lift driver who stops to help clean it up the stink eye. Or the front end loader operator who leaves at exactly 5pm rather than staying the extra 10min to complete the task at hand on the Friday before a long weekend leaving the people he was supporting to do a ton of less efficient work with a different machine causing his coworkers to not leave until 7pm because they were actually responsible for finishing the task. Both those are examples from real life BTW. And in both cases management wanted to chew the people being selfish jerks out but because of the rigidly defined job requirements as a result of the various agreements with the union nothing would have come of it so they didn't get chewed out. That's the kind of toxic "not my job" attitude that unions provide a heck of a lot of cover for. Frankly I think it's moronic that people don't realize that just because something benefits the company doesn't mean it doesn't also benefit your coworkers.
- superjan 4y ago
  Is there any legally valid objection management can make against unionizing in the US?

"Update: An Activision Blizzard spokesperson says that the company will not willingly recognize GWA Albany." Gonna go down kicking and screaming instead of just doing better.

nimbius 4y ago

I work in a union shop, and ive been in shops that have unionized. before the inks dried the company is going to throw every single thing they have at you to fight. youll get calls, youll get meetings, youll get your hours chopped stretched and moved all over the place. management will tell you what youre doing is illegal, that they can close the shop and walk away, that all your benefits will go away. and in the end, youll take a 15k raise, pick up some nice new PPE, sit at the same table as management and ask them to recall why they said all these things that werent true while they tell you they do not comment on any prior business conducted outside of a union agreement. our union ended mandatory overtime, slashed shift injuries, got healthier vending machines, and got health insurance for everyone.

Ekaros 4y ago
>healthier vending machines? As in less injuries from them or?
- FrenchDevRemote 4y ago
  as in food that won't kill you in the next 20 years I guess
  - chrsig 4y ago
    or food that hasn't been there for the last 20 years, possibly
- wccrawford 4y ago
  I assume that means foods that aren't just sugar and empty calories in general.
  - Ekaros 4y ago
    That sounds as net negative to me... At least if it removed choice.
    - wccrawford 4y ago
      It wasn't that long ago that I've have also been disappointed in the change, but today I'd be happy about it. So yeah, so long as there's more options, rather than just completely changing everything to be "healthy", I think it's an improvement. Otherwise, someone gets the shaft.
    - Volundr 4y ago
      Seems like it's adding choice, once there was only junk, now there's some healthier options. Even if it removed the junk in favor of health food it's still the same amount of choice, now it's just the people who want junk that have to source it elsewhere instead of the people who want healthier options.
    - nemothekid 4y ago
      Sure he got a 15k raise..., but they removed doritos from the vending machine.
    - deleted 4y ago
      [deleted]
    - jacobolus 4y ago
      If you spend all day eating carrot sticks and peanuts and drinking unsweetened iced tea vs. eating Snickers bars and Cheetos and drinking Coca Cola (or whatever), after a few months you’ll see a pretty big difference. Many people will eat whatever snacks are available against their better judgment, and then regret it later. Having unhealthy snacks there and in people’s faces is a kind of psychological manipulation that takes some people nontrivial willpower to overcome. If someone really wants candy bars, they can bring them from home.
      - Ekaros 4y ago
- ketralnis 4y ago
  The vending machines are required to exercise at least 30 minutes per day
p4bl0 4y ago
Congrats!
skeeter2020 4y ago
>> our union ended mandatory overtime, slashed shift injuries, got healthier vending machines, and got health insurance for everyone. With perhaps the exception of health care, none of which seems relevant to white-collar office workers though.
- kevin_thibedeau 4y ago
  Insurance companies give discounts for employers that institute wellness programs. The healthier food on site is part of that.
- badrequest 4y ago
  Do you seriously think that checks notes video game QA workers are not subject to concepts like mandatory overtime?
- pseudalopex 4y ago
  The article said 1 of the QA workers' complaints is crunch. Crunch is mandatory overtime. And they want to change disciplinary processes. Many office workers have fancy chairs and so on to prevent injuries. And how are healthier snacks and drinks not relevant to office workers?
throwaway0a5e 4y ago
>and in the end, youll take a 15k raise, pick up some nice new PPE, sit at the same table as management and ask them to recall why they said all these things that werent true while they tell you they do not comment on any prior business conducted outside of a union agreement. And all your up and coming young techs you were hoping to train into more advanced positions leave to your competitors who can actually offer them a quick promotion and raise outside of the stupid seniority and job title based system the union got you and the workplace steadily inches toward "everyone does exactly their job and nothing more" type clock punching culture that makes everyone hate work. Whether the tradeoffs are worth it is an argument I'm willing to have. but don't lie to us and act like there's no downsides.
- 93po 4y ago
  >everyone does exactly their job and nothing more Great! This is awesome. People shouldn't be doing work for free to the benefit of multibillion dollar companies.
  - throwaway0a5e 4y ago
    I meant like the processing equipment fucks off and starts spilling product on the floor and the half crippled janitor has to struggle to turn it off while everyone else looks on because they're on their lunch break so it's not their problem. And then they all give the one fork lift driver who stops to help clean it up the stink eye. Or the front end loader operator who leaves at exactly 5pm rather than staying the extra 10min to complete the task at hand on the Friday before a long weekend leaving the people he was supporting to do a ton of less efficient work with a different machine causing his coworkers to not leave until 7pm because they were actually responsible for finishing the task. Both those are examples from real life BTW. And in both cases management wanted to chew the people being selfish jerks out but because of the rigidly defined job requirements as a result of the various agreements with the union nothing would have come of it so they didn't get chewed out. That's the kind of toxic "not my job" attitude that unions provide a heck of a lot of cover for. Frankly I think it's moronic that people don't realize that just because something benefits the company doesn't mean it doesn't also benefit your coworkers.
superjan 4y ago
Is there any legally valid objection management can make against unionizing in the US?