Bethesda employees in Maryland and Texas are on strike today in an effort to make their voices and concerns heard by Microsoft bosses.
Reported by Inverse, the ZeniMax Workers United union that officially formed last year and represents more than 300 quality assurance developers across the United States alleges that Microsoft isn’t addressing their concerns over things like remote work and Microsoft’s outsourcing practices.
In regards to remote work concerns, the striking developers are saying that while they’re only required to come into the office twice a week, many of their remote work requests are being denied.
Quality assurance test lead Rhyanna Eichner says that Microsoft isn’t properly coming to the table on the unions own more flexible remote work proposal.
“They have continually given us their first proposal again and again, and it’s become obvious that our different mobilization tactics have not work,” Eichner told Inverse.
Regarding the unions issue on outsourcing, the workers would like to limit how much work can be outsourced by Microsoft versus the amount of work being done by full time staff.
This strike comes just as Microsoft Gaming boss Phil Spencer says “The Xbox business has never been more healthy” in a recent interview, though it’s perhaps easier to say that after laying off more than 2,500 people, as Microsoft already has in its games division.
Source – [Inverse]