This month has been filled with doom and gloom when it comes to employment. Every so often, you do get to see some hope. More Microsoft QA workers are making me a little bit more hopeful.
Thanks to the Communication Workers of America, Microsoft has agreed to hire 77 quality assurance contractors full-time. The news on its own isn’t all that surprising. What makes it surprising is that it happened while cuts are being made elsewhere across the industry.
ZeniMax Workers United had been in talks with Microsoft since April. ZeniMax Workers United are the 200 QA workers that unionized back in January.
Initially, some of the 77 employees were expected to get laid off some time ago. However, because the negotiations were happening, that got held up. Those talks ultimately led to 23 workers becoming full-fledged Microsoft employees with a 22% bump in pay. The rest have been brought on as temporary full-time employees. That comes with a $2.75/hr raise with paid sick and vacation days.
It’s made it possible to give a lot of great benefits to a lot of great people and this is a great opportunity for people who normally would feel like they don’t have a voice. The union informed Microsoft last summer that most of the contract staff had agreed to join it.”
ZeniMax worker and organizing committee member Aubrey Litchfield to Bloomberg
Again, congratulations to those QA workers, ZeniMax Workers United and Communication Workers of America for securing work. Hopefully, the future will remain bright for them and will get better for everyone.
Source: Polygon
