{"id":36399,"date":"2022-06-04T13:08:23","date_gmt":"2022-06-04T13:08:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/microsoft-president-says-employees-will-never-need-to-unionize\/"},"modified":"2022-06-04T13:08:23","modified_gmt":"2022-06-04T13:08:23","slug":"microsoft-president-says-employees-will-never-need-to-unionize","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/microsoft-president-says-employees-will-never-need-to-unionize\/","title":{"rendered":"Microsoft president says employees ‘will never need to’ unionize"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Stepping into the labor conversation, Microsoft said Thursday it recognized employees’ right to form and join a union but believed its own workers \u201cwill never need to organize\u201d to facilitate conversations with executives and leaders.<\/p>\n

Seemingly unprompted, the Redmond-based company announced that it is poised to respond if a union effort does crop up, writing in a blog post that recent campaigns across the country and in the tech industry have “led us to conclude that inevitably these issues will touch on more businesses, potentially including our own. “<\/p>\n

\u201cNone of us ever knows precisely what challenges the future will bring,\u201d Microsoft President and Vice Chair Brad Smith wrote. “But we’re willing to bet that a company that listens to and works well with its employees is likely to have a winning hand.”<\/p>\n

A spokesperson for Microsoft said the company is not aware of any active union campaigns among its workforce. The spokesperson did not elaborate on why the company issued a statement.<\/p>\n

But if Microsoft’s proposed acquisition of gaming company Activision Blizzard goes through, Microsoft will inherit a small group of unionized software workers.<\/p>\n

Employees at Raven Software, a gaming studio that is part of Activision Blizzard, voted to unionize in May, marking the first union at the company that is known for popular games like Call of Duty and Candy Crush. The union, the Game Workers Alliance, includes nearly 30 quality assurance testers and will be part of the larger union Communications Workers of America. <\/p>\n

Activision Blizzard denied the union’s request for voluntary recognition and has since been accused of attempting to break the union and violating labor law by intimidating workers.<\/p>\n

Ahead of its union vote, the group of gaming workers sent a letter to Microsoft’s CEO Satya Nadella asking if Microsoft would voluntarily recognize a union and or put any conditions on the collective bargaining process. In response, Microsoft has said that it will not stand in the way if Activision Blizzard recognizes a union.<\/p>\n

Now, Microsoft is going a step further by publicly listing its “principles for employee organizing and engagement with labor organizations.” The four guiding principles are:<\/p>\n