21 Raven Software QA employees will be allowed to have a union election

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

The video game industry union is holding a vote on May 20th. The National Labor Relations Board decided that the voting unit would be composed of 21 employees, against the argument that the voting unit should be open to all employees.

Rich George said in a statement to The Verge.

While we respect the NLRB process, we are disappointed that a decision that could significantly impact the future of our entire studio will be made by fewer than 10% of our employees. We believe a direct relationship with team members is the best path to achieving individual and company goals. We are reviewing legal options regarding a potential appeal.”

The journey toward unionization began in December of 2021. Workers at the studio went on strike for five weeks after a round of layoffs. The Game Workers Alliance is the first union in one of North America's biggest game companies.

Since then, they have worked to undermine the unionization efforts. The voting unit for the pending union election should be open to all of the employees of the company because they argued that it would reduce the chance for its success. Over 1000 contract and temporary employees were converted to full-time employees and gave significant raises, but not to Raven employees.

The Game Workers Alliance said that the National Labor Relations Board ruled that the unit is eligible for election. It's time for democracy!

We are so proud to announce that the NLRB ruled that our unit is eligible for election! Thank you to everyone supporting our campaign since our initial strike up until this very moment! Time for democracy! #WeAreRaven #WeAreGWA

— Game Workers Alliance #WeAreGWA (@WeAreGWA) April 22, 2022

The votes will be counted once the ballots are submitted. Bargaining can begin if a majority of the voting unit votes in favor of the union.

Microsoft is set to acquire a video game publisher in a deal worth nearly $70 billion, though it isn't expected to close until the company's next fiscal year begins in July. It will not have a conference call or issue an earnings presentation, but it will report earnings on Monday, April 25th.

The Game Workers Alliance added a twit.