Activision Blizzard responds to accusations from American unions

    Activision Blizzard responds to accusations from American unions

    Activision Blizzard was recently contacted by the Deputy of AFL-CIO, among the most important American workers' union associations, regarding the proposal to apply the so-called "Rooney Rule" within their company. The aforementioned rule requires all companies interested in joining to perform all job interviews for the managerial staff with at least one candidate belonging to minorities of the working world. This proposal was initially considered "unworkable" by lawyers outside Activision Blizzard, which consequently caused a strong adverse reaction from the community and the unions themselves. Hence, interviewed by IGN's American colleagues, the American company she found herself forced to respond to accusations trying to limit the potential damage to image.



    According to Activision Blizzard, the passwords previously debt from their own external lawyers, concerning theimpracticability area of Rooney's rule inside the company, they have been completely misrepresented. Rather the company that created Call of Duty e World of Warcraft sends the criticism back to the sender, asserting that the association of trade unions AFL-CIO, has never specified the territorial nature of the proposal and if therefore this was addressed only to American soil or to all the offices around the world. Also considering the hypothesis that this is international in nature, Activision asks for clarification on how to implement this regulation in territories outside the competence of the American unions. Requests that therefore try to contextualize the initial response of the company's lawyers on how it was, in their opinion, impracticable to integrate the Rooney Rule in a context ultra-competitive like that of multinationals contemporary.



    We want to clarify, however, that Rooney's rule, initially introduced in 2003 in the world of US basketball, is not considerable as legally binding, accordingly Activision Blizzard can ignore it without thereby receiving any legal consequences, although potentials are still possible image repercussions. For the sake of completeness, the following is the translation of the most important points of the IGN interview with Activision managers:


    Activision Blizzard is committed to inclusive hiring practices and creating a diverse workforce (…). The Deputy (of AFL-CIO) misinterpreted the statement (…) made by our outside lawyers. Indeed, our hiring practices are rooted in ensuring diversity for all roles. We engage (in this context) aggressively and successfully. Our objection was rooted in the fact that the AFL-CIO proposal failed to adequately consider how to apply these practices in all the countries in which we operate (…). (However) in order to ensure that our games remain true to our mission - connecting and engaging the world through epic entertainment - we require that all applicants from all backgrounds, ethnicities, genders, races and sexual orientations be considered for every open role. . We aggressively recruit diverse candidates so that the workforce provides the creativity (and inspiration) needed to meet the expectations of our 400 million players in 190 countries. (…).


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