Last week, Communications Workers of America, the union that helped organize thousands of workers across numerous Microsoft-owned video game studios, promised that it would “take all necessary legal and contractual action to defend our members and their rights” following layoffs of 1,600 employees. Now it’s making good on its word.
Today CWA and CWA Canada filed unfair labor complaints against Microsoft, alleging unlawful action on the part of the profitable (but apparently not profitable enough) tech giant.
"CWA's position is clear: Xbox management is required to bargain with the union over the decision of layoffs prior to implementing them during the status quo period, and we are pursuing every available avenue to protect our members," a CWA spokesperson said in a statement to Aftermath.
The unfair labor complaint, filed in the US to the National Labor Relations Board, lists several allegations: “repudiation/modification of contract,” “refusal to furnish information,” “refusal to bargain/bad faith bargaining (incl'g surface bargaining/direct dealing),” and “coercive actions (surveillance, etc).”
Speaking to Game Developer, CWA Canada president Carmel Smyth elaborated on the unions’ misgivings.
"The unions CWA and CWA Canada have jointly filed unfair labor practice complaints against Microsoft alleging the company has unlawfully fired people without giving notice to or discussing it with the union as the employer is legally obliged to do when we are in the middle of ongoing bargaining a collective agreement," Smyth said. "Basically the employer cannot arbitrarily change working conditions while it is engaged in negotiating with the union. We will continue to file legal challenges if necessary, and do all we can to defend the rights of Bethesda Game Studios workers."
This is not CWA’s first time taking legal action against Microsoft and its subsidiaries. In 2025, CWA publicly announced that it had filed an unfair labor practice charge against Activision for allegedly disciplining a Raven Software employee for communicating about bargaining. It appears to have been withdrawn by the NLRB a couple months later. The NLRB’s database also includes a few other open cases filed by CWA against Activision—one from 2025 and two from 2026. Additionally, there are five open cases against Zenimax (not including today's), three from CWA. Also in 2025, CWA Canada filed an unfair labor practice complaint against Bethesda Game Studios for what it deemed unfair bargaining with Canadian employees and “choosing to treat Canada-based employees like second-class citizens.” It is unclear whether or not the case has been resolved.
Currently, the US’ National Labor Relations Board is dealing with a “historic” backlog of cases after 2025 saw Donald Trump take the then-unprecedented step of firing Democratic member Gwynne Wilcox, costing the five-member board its quorum of at least three members and preventing it from deciding cases for nearly a year. The board has traditionally been overseen by two Democrats, two Republicans, and a chair from the president’s party, and with Trump’s nominee recently getting cleared by a Senate panel, it’s looking like Republicans will soon have a 3-1 NLRB advantage. This does not bode well for Biden-era NLRB decisions that encouraged union organizing—nor for unions in general.
Additionally, a recent Center For American Progress analysis found that under Trump, the NLRB has proven 14.2 percent more likely to throw out unfair labor practice charges filed by unions and 10.7 percent more likely to do so when the charges are filed by workers.
Legal action, though, is just one part of unions’ larger effort to hold Microsoft accountable for its decision to lay off thousands of workers. This week, CWA also hosted a series of “Save Our Devs” demonstrations outside the offices of affected studios like Zenimax, id Software, Bethesda, and Obsidian.
“I think we are trying to put pressure on [Microsoft] from as many angles as possible,” a current Blizzard employee and union member told Aftermath. “Evidently keeping it internal is not enough.”
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Mikhail Klimentov
