Fallout, Elder Scrolls, and Doom Workers Go on Strike in Protest at Parent Company Microsoft

Hundreds of unionized ZeniMax Studios video game workers go on strike today over an alleged lack of bargaining by parent company Microsoft.

[Christopher]

IGN quoting Microsoft but not the union reps. Good job reporting. /s

[mandf]

It’s called special interest

[mastershredder]

IGN employees are part of a unionized workforce.

[mandf]

Which is partially owned by who

[InUrFoxHole]

Why would they need a quote?

[Christopher]

Because that's what journalists do, get quotes from both sides. Unless they stop doing their job and just take what Microsoft put out to everyone and print that even though the news is about the striking employees.

[FPS_D3TH]

Implies IGN are actual journalists rather than blatant corporate shills.

[mandf]

All media are corporate shills

[Petebloodyonion]

You must be joking, right? The quote in question was distributed to all media outlets, including GameSpot, and it's the typical 'generic response' regarding our belief in our workers' right to protest.

Would you care to demonstrate what the bias is compared to the numerous articles about similar worker strikes, where the workers' perspectives are detailed in the article and the journos asked the other party to comment?

[Christopher]

You're right! It's not the job of journalists to get quotes from other sources! /s

C'mon now, asking them to do their job isn't some controversy. Let alone the news is about a group of people striking against Microsoft but they only care to provide the quote given from Microsoft when there are obviously quotes from the other side (literally another submission on here).

[anast]

Usually people bargain when they have the upper hand. Working on the Elder Scrolls and Fallout is not the upper hand anymore. This protest is most likely going to fail, unless MS is forced to keep the workers, even then layoffs are around the corner after the union reps get paid.

[TheColbertinator]

Microsoft needs to fire all those employees and ship them off to labor camps in an undisclosed country.

[anast]

People don't get satire.

[Hofstaderman]

But MS said the sale would be good for the employees?

[Petebloodyonion]

The article indicates that the strike is associated with Microsoft outsourcing work to other studios rather than to unionized employees. This practice, which companies like Sony and EA seemingly undertake without issue, is noteworthy. Therefore, the recent ability of workers to unionize is advantageous, as it permits them to protest and put pressure on MS.

[anast]

It actually gives leverage to the employer if those unionized workers are under a union agreement. If this is the case, the protestors are protesting on a 'battlefield determined' by the employer's lawyers, the sun is in their eyes. The protesters would lose for sure. People would need to protest globally without a union to put any real pressure on a corporation like MS. MS can take on entire countries at this point. Not too mention things like water, food, security, and shelter are all privatized, which means the workers are going to break first. There is no way to look at it where the protesters have the upper hand.

[Petebloodyonion]

"It actually gives leverage to the employer if those unionized workers are under a union agreement."

Oh, that explains why all major companies are hastening to unionize their employees; it's to gain leverage over the workers. /sarcasm
https://www.polygon.com/234...
https://www.polygon.com/gam...

Who needs workplace protection anyway?

[SimpleDad]

Quests and lore are done by AI, engine gameplay is outsourced work done in Vietnam, Korea, China and Mexico.

Workers are in Yoga rooms in meditation mode dying their hair purple.

The product is garbage protected by gaming medias 9/10, and all of this...

Is played in a subscription model with a controller on a USB stick.

You see now where the problem is?

Workers...yup, there it is.

[Name Last Name]

We need a lot more unionizing to claw back on BS practices like outsourced work. But I don't see it happening soon.

[MrDead]

"We need a lot more unionizing"

The US has kissed goodbye to that for the next four years.
To quote Trump and Musk, "In a conversation with his billionaire campaign supporter Elon Musk, Trump applauded the idea of corporations telling their striking workers: “You’re all gone.” “You’re the greatest cutter,” Trump told Musk. “I look at what you do. You walk in and say: ‘You want to quit?’ I won’t mention the name of the company, but they go on strike and you say: ‘That’s OK. You’re all gone.’”

Also here's another quote from Trump:
"Wages of US workers are “too high”.

[gold_drake]

good ol' 3 trillion dollar Microsoft

[MrDead]

Anyone remember what Musk and Trump said about striking workers? The US is about to get a massive shock, the people who lobbied to keep your wages low and are promoting AI to replace the workforce are now in charge... interestingly they are looking to relax rules on monopolistic practices too, I wonder how MS will react?

These workers have no chance now.

[Outside_ofthe_Box]

America done messed up and I'm here to watch the show lol. 🍿

I don't want to hear anyone complain about the government for the next 4 years because y'all voted for this knowing fully well what they were going to do. It's not like they were hiding it. 😂

[DodoDojo]

If you seen the other option and have watched the US economy in the last 4 years, then you would understand why Trump won.

[Outside_ofthe_Box]

Economy went to shit because of the pandemic. Has nothing to do with the presidency.

The entire world went on lockdown. Manufacturing was halted and demand for everything was low prices dropped. Lockdown ends, demand skyrockets, manufacturing which was halted now has to start up again and has to play catch to demand, prices increase.

Now, given that America is a capitalist society even though some companies were back to making record profits they kept prices high because consumers were still buying products at those prices (with their easily approved credit cards I bet, hence the trillion dollar credit card debt people are in) instead of cutting back in spending.

This would have happened regardless of who the president was, yes that means that had Trump won instead of Biden we'd be in the same mess. Now you can say Biden took too long to make the change, but I'll say, 1) we live in capitalist society. That means free market, less government interference. They have see if the market can correct itself before interference. 2) I'd say he turned it around fairly quickly after he started raising interest rates. Yes this caused the prices of owning a house or car more expensive, but you shouldn't be buying something you can't afford in the first place and it was the only way to drive demand down. As a result inflation has basically flat lined and prices are falling. Regular gas prices were 4 bucks at one point and now it's under 3 dollars consistently in my area. I never thought gas would fall under $3 ever again because I thought these greedy companies would see that people are used paying that high price and keep it that way. Prices of other things are still high, but the overall downward trend is happening. And Trump will take all the credit when he takes office even though he hasn't done anything yet.