Service & Solidarity Spotlight: Activision Blizzard’s Platform and Technology Workers Join CWA

Working people across the United States regularly step up to help out our friends, neighbors and communities during these trying times. In our Service & Solidarity Spotlight series, we’ll showcase one of these stories every day. Here’s today’s story.

In yet another win for video game workers, staff in Activision Blizzard’s Platform and Technology department voted last week to form a union with the Communications Workers of America (CWA).

The newly recognized union members perform a number of essential roles for the game developer and are represented by CWA locals 9510 and 6215. Their roles include software engineers, project and product managers, and graphic designers for Battle.net, the platform that houses all of Blizzard’s online products and services. Workers within the new bargaining units also work on localization, quality assurance testing and customer support for the company’s other products.

“I’ve been at Blizzard for nearly 20 years, and I’ve seen so many incredible colleagues in the industry come and go for preventable reasons—either for better compensation or as a result of layoffs. Our culture is our people, and we can’t afford to lose that,” said organizing committee member and Principal Software Engineer Daniel Weltz in a press release. “We are forming a union to hold leadership accountable and to ensure that we can focus on building amazing experiences for the gaming community.”

Kenneth Quinnell Tue, 10/21/2025 - 09:17

People, Not Politicians: The Working People Weekly List

Every week, we bring you a roundup of the top news and commentary about issues and events important to working families. Here’s the latest edition of the Working People Weekly List.

More Than 30,000 Kaiser Permanente Workers Strike for Better Pay and Staffing: “In the largest strike in its union’s 50-year history, more than 30,000 Kaiser Permanente nurses and health workers on the West Coast walked off the job for a five-day strike, demanding better pay and safer staffing levels.”

Labor Unions Sue U.S. Over Monitoring Social Media of Visa Holders: “Labor unions filed a lawsuit against the U.S. government on Thursday, alleging that the Trump administration violated the First Amendment rights of people who are legally in the United States by searching their social media for specific viewpoints, including criticism of Israel. The complaint is the latest legal challenge to the broad immigration crackdown initiated since President Donald Trump was inaugurated in January, which has seen unprecedented deportations of migrants, including some who had valid visas.”

Missouri AFL-CIO Helping Collect Signatures to Put Redistricting Changes on the Ballot: “The unions of the Missouri AFL-CIO are helping collect signatures to put the People Not Politicians referendum on the ballot. House Bill 1, the mid-decade gerrymandered congressional map passed during last month’s special session of the legislature. It targets, and essentially dismantles, Kansas City’s 5th District and redraws the lines of other districts to lock in a 7-1 Republican stranglehold on Missouri’s U.S. House delegation. Missouri Gov. Mike Kehoe signed the bill into law Sept. 28, but it doesn’t take effect until Dec. 11—just in time for candidate filing in the 2026 elections.”

Major Federation of Unions Calls for ‘Worker-Centered AI’ Future: “‘We reject the false choice between American competitiveness on the world stage and respecting workers’ rights and dignity,’ AFL-CIO president Liz Shuler says in the press release. The AFL-CIO’s membership includes 63 unions and nearly 15 million workers, ranging from pro hockey players to nurses to merchant mariners.”

Build It All: Rhode Island Unions Champion ‘All-of-the-Above’ Energy Approach: “In the building trades, we don’t take sides in energy politics. We build it all—gas, nuclear, solar, wind—and we do it well. Our members have powered this country for generations, and we’ll keep doing it no matter how the technology evolves. If it’s a project that supports American jobs and keeps energy affordable, we’re all in. With work resuming on Revolution Wind, hundreds of skilled union tradesmen and women across Rhode Island are back at work, building energy infrastructure our region desperately needs. These are local workers, trained in the Ocean State, earning family-supporting wages and building an affordable energy future for our communities. For all our sakes, we hope Revolution Wind remains on track.”

Broadway Enters An Anxious Time As Labor Action Threatens To Roil Theaters: “Broadway is a tense place these days after two major labor unions authorized strike action amid ongoing contract negotiations with producers. Actors’ Equity Association—which represents over 51,000 members, including singers, actors, dancers and stage managers—and American Federation of Musicians Local 802—which represents 1,200 musicians—have voted in favor of a strike authorization, a strategic step ahead of any work stoppage. No strike has been called.”

Government Shutdown Is Having An Outsized Impact on Black Americans: “Everett Kelley, national president of the American Federation of Government Employees, noted that Black Americans make up a larger share of the federal government than their total U.S. population at more than 18%. ‘It’s going to disproportionately affect the Black community in so many ways…They’re going to be suffering from, ‘How do I pay my mortgage bill? How do I pay my medical bills if I don’t have a paycheck coming in?’’ Kelley told theGrio.”

Kenneth Quinnell Fri, 10/17/2025 - 12:46