CWA Canada Wins Order against BGS-Microsoft

CWA Canada, the media union organizing a group of Quebec workers who design globally popular video games, has won a legal victory over Microsoft.

The Quebec Administrative Labour Tribunal on Friday ordered Montreal-based Bethesda Game Studios (BGS, owned by Microsoft) to stop fighting over the union’s bargaining committee, as workers are legally entitled to choose their own committee. CWA Canada had filed a formal complaint alleging Microsoft engaged in bad faith and interference in the union’s effort to negotiate a first contract for the workers.

The tribunal also ordered the company to release information about employee bonus pay.

BGS produces video games like Starfield and the Fallout franchise.

“We are happy with the decision,” CWA Canada President Carmel Smyth said. “This is exactly what the labour board should be doing, protecting collective bargaining as a good-faith process to safeguard the rights of workers. It now remains to be seen whether this American-owned company will play ball.” 

The Quebec Ministry of Labour has appointed a conciliator to ensure the two sides work together more effectively.

This dispute comes as CWA Canada and its international union, the Communication Workers of America, ramp up efforts to unionize Microsoft game workers at facilities in both countries.

CWA Canada is the country’s only all-media union, representing 6,000 workers, including at the CBC, The Canadian Press, and newspapers, tech, digital media, and other companies coast to coast.