QA workers at ZeniMax Media, the parent company of Bethesda Softworks, have launched a union, ZeniMax Workers United - CWA, becoming the first group of Microsoft employees to do so.

"Today, the majority of us QA workers at ZeniMax are proud to announce the launch of our union with @CWAunion," tweeted ZeniMax Workers United (opens in new tab). 'We are the first group of workers to officially unionize at Microsoft. We are empowered to advocate for ourselves and build a future that can thrive with the company.

"ZeniMax QA workers are extremely passionate about our work and the games we make. Having a union seat allows us to receive fair compensation for our work. Having a union in the workplace protects us and ensures that our passion is not taken for granted." [The union said it wants to secure four main points for its members:

A report in the New York Times (opens in new tab) unsurprisingly quotes an employee who cited frustration as the driving force behind the unionization movement: working on The Elder Scrolls Online According to one employee, ZeniMax recently made overtime voluntary, but many employees still feel forced to work overtime. Another problem identified was the lower pay rate than offered in other software development sectors, such as finance and security software.

As with Activision Blizzard, Microsoft promised to remain "neutral" in the voting process and appears to have kept that promise. According to the report, ZeniMax employees praised the company for not convincing its employees to vote against unionizing. No doubt it would have been in Microsoft's best interest to do so: the QA workers at Blizzard Albany (open in new tab) voted overwhelmingly late last week to join the Game Workers Alliance union. That doesn't usually stop big companies from forming unions, but labor peace would almost certainly benefit Microsoft, which is seeking FTC approval (opens in new tab) for its purchase of the embattled Activision Blizzard.

The Communications Workers Alliance, the parent union of the Game Workers Union (and presumably the ZWU), also commended Microsoft for not interfering with ZeniMax's unionization efforts and for further opening the door for game workers' unionization efforts in the future. [The CWA tweeted that "giving workers the opportunity to join a union without company interference empowers them to make their voices heard in the workplace." We are pleased to help ZeniMax quality assurance workers join the growing video game labor movement in the United States." [We applaud Microsoft for remaining neutral through this process and allowing workers to decide for themselves whether they want a union. The company is fulfilling a promise it laid out in its Labor Principles earlier this year and sending a great message to the video game industry: the right to free and fair choice about union representation should be in the hands of workers, not management. Other major video game and high-tech companies have chosen to attack, undermine, and demoralize workers when they form unions. Microsoft has made a different choice, and other companies would be wise to emulate it for the sake of their corporate culture, workers, and customers.

In a statement sent to PC Gamer, Microsoft confirmed its position on ZeniMax's unionization.

"Recent organizing efforts by Zenimax employees and the neutrality of Microsoft and Zenimax in this regard are examples of our labor principles in action," a Microsoft spokesperson said. A Microsoft spokesperson added, "We remain committed to providing our employees with the opportunity to make free and fair choices about their workplace representation. 0]

Microsoft's response to ZeniMax's QA union has ranged from anti-unionization stories (opens in new tab) to withholding raven QA workers' pay raises because of union-related activities (opens in new tab) to aggressively trying to undermine employees seeking to organize This is in contrast to that of Activision Blizzard. Perhaps coincidentally, Activision Blizzard management's announcement that it was entering "good faith negotiations" came just days before Microsoft signed a "labor neutrality agreement (opens in new tab)" with the CWA regarding union activity at Activision Blizzard.

This is a big step forward, but there is still work to be done before the ZeniMax QA union is formed: the union said the election process will continue "over the next four weeks." We have asked Microsoft for comment and will update if we hear back.