It looks like “Hot Labor Summer” has gone on through the fall months and is heading into winter. While it has been a rocky road for unions lately, it’s good to see them fighting for what’s right. It’s also great to see unions start and grow. Especially, QA teams.
Experis Game Solutions, a quality assurance company that does work for Forza Motorsport and Halo Infinite voted to unionize on Thursday. It was a 35 to 4 vote to join the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers (IAM). This is the same union the Towson Apple Store employees are a part of. This new union, however, will consist of 42 test associates, software test engineers and data software analysts based out of Experis’ office in Milwaukee.
Experis itself is part of ManpowerGroup, a global staffing agency. They have other QA offices in:
- Portland, Oregon
- Bellevue, Washington
- Tempe, Arizona
Microsoft is one of its biggest clients with the Milwaukee branch almost exclusive testing its flight simulator and Starfield along with the two games mentioned above.
As with nearly every union, the members are looking for “fair pay, benefits and working conditions that respect the workers’ expertise and hard work”.
Improvements in working conditions are essential to reducing employee burnout and to creating sustainable, family supporting jobs in the Milwaukee area community.”
Excerpt from IAM new release
And, as per usual, management allegedly tried to break things up. The workers met up against an “active anti-union campaign” from both ManpowerGroup and Experis. Frozen pay and promotions were threatened by management.
We respect the right of our consultants to make their own decisions regarding union representation, regardless of whether they vote for or against. No vote could ever change the respect we have for our consultants. Our people are the core of our operations, and we believe that we are at our best as a company when we work together, listen to and learn from each other. Once the vote is certified, we will engage honestly and in good faith and, on behalf of our consultants, we hope the union will do the same.
Experis representative
Source: Polygon
