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Rallies after Xbox cuts
Dozens of current and former Microsoft employees staged a protest rally outside the id Software building in Richardson, with the gathering starting at 11:30 a.m. Wednesday and speeches followed by a march chanting up and down Greenville Avenue adjacent to U.S. Highway 75.
“Last week, Microsoft announced a series of cuts affecting 4,800 workers across its divisions”
The Dallas News reported that last week Microsoft announced cuts affecting 4,800 workers across its divisions, with roughly 1,600 coming from Xbox, and that more than 150 of the affected employees are based in Texas working for ZeniMax Media, Bethesda Game Studios and id Software in Richardson and Austin.
In Rockville, Maryland, Ars Technica said hundreds of Bethesda Game Studios and Zenimax Online Studios employees and supporters protested sweeping layoffs across Xbox during a lunchtime rally in front of parent company Zenimax’s headquarters.
Ars Technica also said the rally was one of five organized that day by Zenimax Workers United and its parent union, the Communication Workers of America, at offices across Texas, California, and Montreal.
At the Richardson rally, former Bethesda Game Studios lead system designer Jacob Naasz told attendees through a megaphone that the news “came out of left field.”
Union demands and legal fight
Ars Technica reported that Bethesda technical producer and union volunteer organizer Nathan Hahn said, “Because we want to make sure that we’re not okay with these layoffs and that Xbox knows.”
Hahn also argued that Microsoft should return to the bargaining table, saying, “We had … a reduction in force proposal on the table for months, and they ignored it,” and he said the company chose layoffs “without bargaining with us.”
At the same Rockville rally, CWA District 213 vice president Mike Davis told the crowd, “They can either come meet at the table [or] they can meet us in the street,” framing the dispute as a fight over bargaining.
The Dallas News reported that the Communications Workers of America organized Wednesday’s rally and said the cuts hit between 400 and 500 Microsoft employees across the local, citing Alex Doblado, vice president of communication for CWA’s Local 6215.
In Richardson, David Marshall, executive vice president of Local 6215, said the union was in the process of securing contracts for all Xbox employees and that the company was in “status quo,” while the Dallas News added that the union is looking into whether Microsoft violated labor laws under federal law.
Locations, solidarity, and pressure
Rock Paper Shotgun said unionised Microsoft workers were set to hold coordinated rallies later on July 15th outside offices of Xbox-owned studios, with the CWA saying over 400 union-represented jobs across Bethesda Game Studios, ZeniMax, and id Software are being cut.
“Today, July 15th, unionised Microsoft workers are set to hold a series of co-ordinated rallies”
The same outlet listed Microsoft’s campus in Redmond (Washington), ZeniMax studios in Austin (Texas), and the id Software studio in Dallas (Texas), and it also included a rally outside of Montreal's Victoria Square Park in Canada.
KitGuru reported that OneBGS, backed by the CWA, confirmed it would hold a protest across Bethesda offices in Austin, Maryland, Montreal and Rockville on July 15th, aiming to force Microsoft to negotiate how the layoffs take place.
KitGuru said OneBGS wants Microsoft to offer stronger severance packages and extended healthcare, plus transfers to other open roles and preferential recall rights if Microsoft expands Bethesda again.
In Richardson, the Dallas News described protesters wearing red and black T-shirts and carrying signs, including one participant’s “Achievement unlocked! Laid off by Microsoft twice” message, while other slogans targeted layoffs and betrayal.