Labor union tells FTC it supports Microsoft’s Activision acquisition

The labor union helping to organize video game workers told the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) it supports Microsoft’s bid to buy Activision Blizzard in a letter Thursday. 

The Communications Workers of America (CWA) said it supports Microsoft’s roughly $70 billion offer to buy the game developer based on an agreement reached in which the tech giant will not interfere with Activision Blizzard employees’ efforts to form unions. 

“Microsoft’s binding commitments will give employees a seat at the table and ensure that the acquisition of Activision Blizzard benefits the company’s workers and the broader video game labor market,” CWA President Christopher Shelton said in the letter to the FTC.

The union, along with more than a dozen advocacy groups, raised concerns about the deal in a letter to the FTC in March.

But it now supports the acquisition because the agreement with Microsoft ensures Activision Blizzard workers “have a clear path to collective bargaining,” Shelton wrote.

Under the agreement, Microsoft will take a neutral approach when employees covered by the agreement express interest in joining a union.

Microsoft’s commitment not to interfere comes amid a push for unionizing within the gaming industry. Workers at a subsidiary of Activision Blizzard voted to form the first labor union at a large video game company in the U.S. last month.