Former Trump Administration Undersecretary of State for Management Brian Bulatao, now Chief Administrative Officer at Activision-Blizzard, publisher of the multibillion dollar Call of Duty, Diablo, and World of Warcraft video game properties – among others – wrote a letter to employees seeking to unionize in the amidst ongoing controversies over sexual harassment, pay disparities, needless layoffs at QA divisions, and more, Kotaku reports, publishing the contents of the letter.
Bulatao, a West Point grad whose main claim to fame is acting as Pompeo’s “attack dog” and “bullying” the State Department IG into quitting over an investigation of a Trump Administration arms sale to the Saudis, would probably have been better off writing nothing at all than this:
At Activision Blizzard, we are working hard to create a more inclusive, supportive, and rewarding environment, and thanks to your input, we are making progress.
In the past few months, we’ve announced that we’re converting nearly 500 temporary workers to full-time employees at Activision Publishing studios, and we have increased wages for a large portion of temporary workers and added paid time off benefits. We introduced a zero-tolerance harassment policy and waived required arbitration of sexual harassment and discrimination claims. We have made significant commitments to increase gender diversity and are dedicating $250 million to accelerate opportunities for diverse talent across the industry. We have more to do, and we believe that direct dialogue between management and employees is essential to the success of Activision Blizzard.
As you may have seen yesterday, there was a communication supported by the Communications Workers of America (CWA) that asked employees to sign and submit union authorization cards. I want to be clear about this: The leadership of Activision Blizzard supports your right, under the the [sic] National Labor Relations Act (NLRA), to make your own decision about whether or not to join a union.
As you make this decision for your future, we ask only that you take time to consider the consequences of your signature on the binding legal document presented to you by CWA. Once you sign that document, you will have signed over to CWA the exclusive right “to represent [you] for the purposes of collective bargaining concerning all terms and conditions of employment.” That means that your ability to negotiate all your own working conditions will be turned over to CWA, just as the document says… If we fail to achieve the workplace goals we have set forth—if we fail to do the things we’ve committed to doing—then of course you will still always have the right to engage with, and vote for, CWA. But we are confident that we will make the progress we’ve previously pledged to make and create a workplace with you that we all can be proud of.
Kind of pathetic. Real MAGA too.
A commenter on the Kotaku article posted “In case you were wondering” how the letter was received, along with this screenshot from an internal Slack chat at one of Activision’s studios:
Game over man.