Activision Blizzard hit with another NLRB unfair labor complaint

After Activision Blizzard chief communications officer Lulu Cheng Meservey published an alleged “company-wide Slack message disparaging [Activision Blizzard workers’] union,” the Communications Workers of America has filed a new unfair labor complaint with the National Labor Relations Board.

The charge, filed Monday, alleges that Meservey posted “anti-union propaganda” in the #ABK-press Slack room and to an estimated 18,000 workers on Oct. 18. It was later published to Twitter, where Twitter users accused her of “pushing right-wing talking points,” according to Kotaku. In that message, Meservey commented on the NLRB’s decision to allow Blizzard Albany workers to vote on a union.

Meservey claims that Meservey said that collective bargaining can be slow, that workers would not receive bonuses, or raises, in the Slack email. Following those comments, the complaint states that workers could not respond via SMS to the message so they used emojis to communicate their responses. The Washington Post’s Shannon Liao said Meservey was “met with negative emojis,” which Meservey later acknowledged: “I can hear the booing from here! And have registered the disappointed dog emojis.”

CWA, via its unfair labor charge, said Meservey’s “anti-union” message violated workers’ rights. The complete filing can be viewed below.

This is Activision Blizzard’s fourth ongoing unfair labor complaintFilled with the NLRB from 2021. A company spokesperson has not responded to Polygon’s request for comment.

The ballots of Blizzard Albany QA employees who were granted the right to vote in a union on last week’s election will be counted by Nov. 18. Activision Blizzard workers’ public union push began in January after Raven Software QA workers announced their intention to unionize. They won their union May.