Microsoft Axed 650 Gaming Employees Two Days After Hosting 'AI Labor Summit'

'A two-day AI Labor Summit between AFL-CIO leaders and Microsoft executives this week reflects the tech giant's revamped approach to unions,' writes GeekWire, 'which includes a pledge by the company to incorporate feedback from labor unions and their members into the development of artificial intelligence.'

But just two days later, 'Microsoft Gaming CEO Phil Spencer announced it was game over for the jobs of another 650 Microsoft staffers (on top of an earlier 1,900 employee staff reduction),' writes long-time Slashdot reader theodp, 'cuts that Spencer made clear were related to Microsoft's $69B acquisition of Activision Blizzard in 2023.'

Interestingly, Microsoft's Smith in October 2023 affirmed a 'groundbreaking neutrality agreement' with the Communications Workers of America union (CWA) — designed to go into effect if Microsoft was successful in its acquisition of Activision Blizzard — in which Microsoft acknowledged the rights of its employees to unionize and pledged to work constructively with any who did. At the same time, Microsoft made it clear that it hoped its employees wouldn't feel the need to form or join unions, saying they would 'never need to organize to have a dialogue with Microsoft's leaders.'

In July 2023, the AFL-CIO applauded Microsoft's Activision Blizzard acquisition and the Microsoft-CWA agreement, which AFL-CIO union federation president Liz Shuler said 'sets a new standard for respecting workers' rights in the video game industry and the larger technology sector.' And in December 2023, Shuler thanked Smith for Microsoft's 'absolutely historic partnership' on AI and the Future of the Workforce, which Shuler suggested 'can be mutually beneficial for workers, for businesses, and for our country as a whole.'

Thursday the CWA union issued critical remarks about the layoffs at Microsoft Gaming (which were later retweeted by the @AFLCIO Twitter account).

'While we would hope that a company like Microsoft with $88 billion in profits last year could achieve 'long-term success' without destroying the livelihoods of 650 of our colleagues, heartless layoffs like these have become all too common.'

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