Software giant, Microsoft President Brad Smith said on Thursday that Microsoft will not resist the unionization efforts by its employees.
Microsoft recognizes employees legal right to choose to form or join a union, although they “will never need to organize to have a dialogue” with leaders, Smith said in a blog post on Thursday.
“Recent unionization campaigns across the country — including in the tech sector — have led us to conclude that inevitably these issues will touch on more businesses, potentially including our own. Microsoft does not believe that employees or other stakeholders will benefit by resisting lawful efforts to participate in activities like unionization”, Smith said.
Last month, a group of few workers voted in favor of unionizing in a division. They decided to “Call of Duty” videogame maker Activision Blizzard. Hence this was taken over by Microsoft.
The comment comes against the backdrop of recent agitations from employees at several technology companies. In response, Activision said it believes 19 employees should not be able to make a decision impacting a larger group of its employees.
Earlier Microsoft said it would be slowing down some of its hirings to become more cautious about adding staff.
The company would be reducing the pace of hiring people for the software group that develops its Windows, Office, and Teams applications. If the company plans to expand its headcount, new hires for the software group will have to first be approved by top management.
Microsoft earlier announced to double the budget for its employee salaries to retain them. CEO Satya Nadella said in a memo to staffers that the company is increasing compensation for its employees as the labor market tightens and employees contend with increasing inflation.
