Activision Blizzard has agreed to better working conditions for its contractors.
The announcement was shared on Twitter by a member of the ABK Workers Alliance, and includes a pay raise, paid time off, sick leave and more.
“We’ve increased our minimum hourly rate for all temporary employees to $17 per hour,” the message read. “Our agency partners have agreed to match the sick pay time off that we offer to Blizzard temporary employees, increasing the number of accrued sick time to nine days each year.”
All temporary workers will also now receive Thanksgiving and Winter breaks as paid time off, and from January they will receive 13 paid holidays each year.
The announcement also said that the company will introduce career growth and learning programmes for contractors, with more to be announced about these at a later date.
This follows a wave of online testimonies pointing to poor working conditions for contractors working at Activision Blizzard.
The ABK Workers Alliance had posted a call inviting contractors to share their experience on Twitter.
“We have learned from contractors across ABK that they are being forced to take mandatory unpaid leave during the holidays, putting them in immediate financial and housing crisis,” the ABK Workers Alliance tweeted after testimonies started flowing. “Displacing workers who help create the products that generate ABK’s revenue is inhumane.”
Activision Blizzard published its financial results for Q3 last week, showing a sales drop for the Call of Duty-driven Activision division that was offset by gains in the Blizzard and King segments.
It was the first look into the company’s financial results since the sexual harassment and discrimination lawsuit that was filed this summer.
A couple of weeks ago, CEO Bobby Kotick asked the company’s board of directors to reduce his salary and compensation to the lowest possible amount under California Law.
Marie Dealessandri
Features Editor
Marie Dealessandri joined GamesIndustry.biz in 2019 to head its Academy section. A journalist since 2012, she started in games in 2015 at B2B magazine MCV. She can be found (rarely) tweeting @mariedeal, usually on a loop about Baldur’s Gate and the Dead Cells soundtrack.
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