About 1,900 workers at Microsoft-owned Blizzard secured their first CWA contracts. The agreements give laid-off workers a 14-month recall right to qualified openings and guarantee at least four weeks of severance, rising with tenure to a 39-week cap.
Other terms include just-cause protections, a grievance process and a three-day in-office hybrid schedule. Existing remote workers can remain remote; they make up about one-quarter of those covered. Blizzard must discuss, evaluate and bargain over AI’s impact on work. The contracts limit outsourcing: Blizzard cannot lay off a worker while retaining a contractor hired in the previous year for similar work, or replace a laid-off worker with a contractor for a year. A buyer must recognize the contract if Microsoft sells the covered units.
The agreements come amid further Microsoft gaming cuts: in July, the company announced 3,200 layoffs, half immediate, including hundreds of CWA members. The remaining 1,600 are expected by the end of 2027. CWA and Microsoft are bargaining over the effects of those layoffs.
