Jessica Gonzalez | |
---|---|
Born | 1992 or 1993 (age 30–31) |
Occupation | Labor organizer |
Employer | CODE-CWA |
Known for | Labor organizing |
Notable work |
A Better ABK ABK Workers Alliance Game Workers Alliance |
Jessica Gonzalez (born 1992 or 1993) [1] is an American labor organizer working with CODE-CWA, the Communication Workers of America's Campaign to Organize Digital Employees. She is known for her work organizing in the video game industry and founding A Better ABK, the worker advocacy group at Activision Blizzard, and co-founding ABK Workers Alliance, a solidarity union, and Game Workers Alliance, the Raven Software union.
Gonzalez joined Activision Blizzard (ABK) in 2015 as a quality assurance (QA) tester. She left the company for a few years to work for Boundless Entertainment, but returned to ABK in 2019 until leaving the company in 2021 due to what she alleged to be a hostile working environment. [2] [3] [4] She worked briefly for a financial tech company following her departure, [5] while working part-time as an organizer with CODE-CWA. She later joined CODE-CWA full-time. [2] [6]
Gonzalez also alleged that in QA at ABK, testers were treated as "second-class citizens", which ABK denies. [2] A former colleague told Axios that Gonzalez "was the spark that started the explosion", referring to the founding of A Better ABK, [7] which was founded in 2021 following a walkout in protest of the company's response to accusations of sexual harassment and discrimination. [8] Gonzalez and the worker organizers staged further walkouts during 2021 and 2022. [9]
Shortly after leaving ABK, Gonzalez, along with other A Better ABK organizers, started a strike fund on GoFundMe to help organizers take unpaid time off to participate in the group's walk-outs. [10]
In 2021, Gonzalez helped form ABK Workers' Alliance. [11]
In 2022, she and former colleague Josh Miller began a podcast on the streaming platform Twitch called Weekly Standup discussing worker's rights and unionization in tech. [12] Also in 2022, Gonzalez appealed the $18 million settlement Equal Employment Opportunity Commission's concurrent California Department of Fair Employment and Housing v. Activision Blizzard lawsuit, [2] which was struck down by the courts on March 22, 2022. [13]
In 2022, Gonzalez co-founded Game Workers Alliance (GWA), a union made up of QA testers at Raven Software, a Subsidiary of ABK. [14] GWA is the first labor union at a AAA games developer. [15] Also in 2022, she, along with 11 other current and former ABK employees, formed an anti-discrimination committee. [16]
Gonzalez lives in San Pedro, Los Angeles. [17]
Jessica Gonzalez | |
---|---|
Born | 1992 or 1993 (age 30–31) |
Occupation | Labor organizer |
Employer | CODE-CWA |
Known for | Labor organizing |
Notable work |
A Better ABK ABK Workers Alliance Game Workers Alliance |
Jessica Gonzalez (born 1992 or 1993) [1] is an American labor organizer working with CODE-CWA, the Communication Workers of America's Campaign to Organize Digital Employees. She is known for her work organizing in the video game industry and founding A Better ABK, the worker advocacy group at Activision Blizzard, and co-founding ABK Workers Alliance, a solidarity union, and Game Workers Alliance, the Raven Software union.
Gonzalez joined Activision Blizzard (ABK) in 2015 as a quality assurance (QA) tester. She left the company for a few years to work for Boundless Entertainment, but returned to ABK in 2019 until leaving the company in 2021 due to what she alleged to be a hostile working environment. [2] [3] [4] She worked briefly for a financial tech company following her departure, [5] while working part-time as an organizer with CODE-CWA. She later joined CODE-CWA full-time. [2] [6]
Gonzalez also alleged that in QA at ABK, testers were treated as "second-class citizens", which ABK denies. [2] A former colleague told Axios that Gonzalez "was the spark that started the explosion", referring to the founding of A Better ABK, [7] which was founded in 2021 following a walkout in protest of the company's response to accusations of sexual harassment and discrimination. [8] Gonzalez and the worker organizers staged further walkouts during 2021 and 2022. [9]
Shortly after leaving ABK, Gonzalez, along with other A Better ABK organizers, started a strike fund on GoFundMe to help organizers take unpaid time off to participate in the group's walk-outs. [10]
In 2021, Gonzalez helped form ABK Workers' Alliance. [11]
In 2022, she and former colleague Josh Miller began a podcast on the streaming platform Twitch called Weekly Standup discussing worker's rights and unionization in tech. [12] Also in 2022, Gonzalez appealed the $18 million settlement Equal Employment Opportunity Commission's concurrent California Department of Fair Employment and Housing v. Activision Blizzard lawsuit, [2] which was struck down by the courts on March 22, 2022. [13]
In 2022, Gonzalez co-founded Game Workers Alliance (GWA), a union made up of QA testers at Raven Software, a Subsidiary of ABK. [14] GWA is the first labor union at a AAA games developer. [15] Also in 2022, she, along with 11 other current and former ABK employees, formed an anti-discrimination committee. [16]
Gonzalez lives in San Pedro, Los Angeles. [17]