The ongoing Activision situation seems positively ubiquitous, barely netting a day out of the public eye, but it’s still a bit of a surprise when it gets attention from individuals outside of the gaming industry. That’s precisely what happened this week when U.S. senator Tammy Baldwin penned a letter to Activision Blizzard CEO Bobby Kotick, according to the Washington Post.
In the letter, Baldwin, who has a rich history of pro-labor advocacy, calls on Kotick to “negotiate in good faith with the workers and suspend any efforts to undermine your employees’ legal right to form a union and collectively bargain.” She also described herself as “disturbed” by recent reports of attempts to stymie the unionization efforts.
Though Baldwin does not have any “direct power” in the ongoing conflict, in the words of Cornell professor Risa Lieberwitz to the Post, her position as a senator for Wisconsin — where Raven Software is based — gives her a certain degree of authority as she wades into the discussion. Her letter could even influence public opinion on Activision and Kotick, who was recently revealed to have been quietly donating to Baldwin’s opponents in the Republican party for years.
Baldwin’s letter comes in the midst of an NLRB hearing between Activision and the Raven employees hoping to unionize. Though Activision did not formally recognize the formation of the Game Workers Alliance, if the employees attain a majority vote in an official election, the union will be considered official.
