Hundreds of workers at the Microsoft owned ZeniMax Media have voted to authorize union leadership to call for a strike.
These video game workers at ZeniMax Media are represented by Communications Workers of America (CWA) Locals 2100, 2108, and 6215 (ZeniMax Workers United-CWA). The vote to authorize a strike at Microsoft was supported by over 94% of those who voted.
This strike vote comes after about two years of first contract negotiations between ZeniMax Workers United-CWA and Microsoft. ZeniMax Workers United-CWA have been pushing for better wages, workplace improvements, and other key concerns. Those "other key concerns" include the lack of any remote work options, as well as the issue where in-house quality assurance work was outsourced without notifying the union.
These are nearly identical to the same complaints ZeniMax Workers United-CWA had when union employees went on a one-day strike in November 2024.
"Underpayment and costly RTO initiatives have caused many of us to put our lives on pause because our income does not match even the rising cost of living in the cities where ZeniMax insists we live and work to maintain employment," said ZeniMax Workers United-CWA Local 6215 Member and Senior QA Tester Zachary Armstrong. "None of us wishes it had come to this, but if Microsoft and ZeniMax continue to demonstrate at the bargaining table that they’re unwilling to pay us fair wages for the value our labor provides to our games, we’ll be showing them just how valuable our labor is."
