ZeniMax QA union signs tentative bargaining agreement with Microsoft

Unionized QA workers at ZeniMax celebrated a huge win today with the news that their union, ZeniMax Workers United-CWA, and ZeniMax parent company Microsoft finally reached a tentative contract agreement two years after unionizing in 2023.

The new contract includes “substantial” across-the-board wage increases and new minimum salaries for employees and policies for introducing AI tools in the workplace (policies first agreed upon in late 2023).

It also includes protections against arbitrary dismissal, grievance procedures, and a robust crediting policy to ensure QA workers are recognized for their work on ZeniMax games. The CWA declared that the agreement “sets new standards” for the video game industry.

“Video games have been the revenue titan of the entire entertainment industry for years, and the workers who develop these games are too often exploited for their passion and creativity,” said ZeniMax QA tester Jessee Leese, who is a member of the bargaining committee. “Our first contract is an invitation for video game professionals everywhere to take action.”

The agreement follows a brief public spat between the two parties from November 2024 through April 2025. The union has spoken out against Microsoft’s decision to outsource more work to outside contractors and accused it of “hindering” contract negotiations, briefly going on strike last year and voting to authorize a second strike this spring. Microsoft denied the accusation, saying made “fair” proposals to the bargaining committee (Raven Software union members made similar claims about Microsoft in August 2024).

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That the two groups could go from public verbal sparring to a successful bargaining agreement in under two months shows that some form of progress came after workers threatened that second strike.

Unions possess negotiation tools that individuals don’t

Adapting the union’s contract and tactics is a potentially powerful way to In 2024 ZeniMax union leaders Autumn Mitchell and Chris Lusco broke down the benefits of the unionization process in a conversation on the Game Developer Podcast, explaining that choosing to unionize has created new bargaining opportunities that individual employees don’t possess.

For instance, the pair discussed the concept of “recall rights,” a term the included in the bargaining agreement that requires employers to offer laid-off employees a chance to return to the company if they reopen their positions within 2-3 years after being laid off. Unionizing workers in the United States also benefit what’s known as a “status quo” condition for workers’ contracts that are immediately imposed when a union is declared, preventing their employer from suddenly shrinking benefits.

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“We’re talking about eliminating that ‘revolving door’ at least to some degree,” Mitchell said at the time, in reference to how high turnover can gut a studio’s institutional knowledge.

Their tactics will certainly be useful to other unions negotiating bargaining agreements with Microsoft. At neighboring subsidiary Activision Blizzard, the developers working on the Warcraft and Overwatch series are waging their own (verbal) battle with the company, as are the employees at Raven Software and workers across Activision Blizzard’s QA teams.