After yesterday’s letter sent to Activision Blizzard management, the employees are now planning to walkout tomorrow for a protest.
The employees will be holding a formal walkout on Wednesday, July 28, 2021, and to hold a protest. They are calling on the leadership to improve the working conditions for women, particularly women of color, transgender women, and other groups that were discriminated.
The protest event has a formal name, which is the Activision Blizzard Walkout for Equality. It will be held virtually from 9 AM to 6 PM PT with a live event stages at the Blizzard campus in Irvine, California from 10 AM to 2 PM PT. Those who are not able to attend are asked to stop their work during these times and join via social media with the hashtag #ActiBlizzWalkout. It is expected that there will be 50 or more people will join in person with more in virtual for the sake of their health safety.
Media outlet Kotaku shared a statement from the employee representative. “We are encouraging employees to take whatever time off they feel safe to do. Most of us plan to take the full day off (without pay), but we understand some people like contractors and associates, and those who are paid less than they deserve, might not have the ability to do so.”
Aside from the announcement of the walkout, a statement of intent letter was addressed to the management. Here’s the full statement:
Statement of Intent
Given last week’s statements from Activision Blizzard, Inc. and their legal counsel regarding the DFEH lawsuit, as well as the subsequent internal statement from Frances Townsend, and the many stories shared by current and former employees of Activision Blizzard since, we believe that our values as employees are not being accurately reflected in the words and actions of our leadership.
As current Activision Blizzard employees, we are holding a walkout to call on the executive leadership team to work with us on the following demands, in order to improve conditions for employees at the company, especially women, and in particular women of color and transgender women, nonbinary people, and other marginalized groups.
1. An end to mandatory arbitration clauses in all employee contracts, current and future. Arbitration clauses protect abusers and limit the ability of victims to seek restitution.
2. The adoption of recruiting, interviewing, hiring, and promotion policies designed to improve representation among employees at all levels, agreed upon by employees in a company-wide Diversity, Equity & Inclusion organization. Current practices have led to women, in particular women of color and transgender women, nonbinary people, and other marginalized groups that are vulnerable to gender discrimination not being hired fairly for new roles when compared to men.
3. Publication of data on relative compensation (including equity grants and profit sharing), promotion rates, and salary ranges for employees of all genders and ethnicities at the company. Current practices have led to aforementioned groups not being paid or promoted fairly.
4. Empower a company-wide Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion task force to hire a third party to audit ABK’s reporting structure, HR department, and executive staff. It is imperative to identify how current systems have failed to prevent employee harassment, and to propose new solutions to address these issues.
The Activision Blizzard walkout organizers are also encouraging non-employees and part of the gaming community to support them for their effort. They can post on social media the hashtag with the blue heart emoji.
