Microsoft will not oppose workers looking to unite according to the company's president

Back in May, we Back in May, we discussed Phil Spencer who revealed insights regarding Microsoft's guarantee of realization of syndicate efforts from Activision Blizzard assistants after the controversial acquisition that is currently making waves in the industry to this day. Today, the company's president followed through with his own statement reassuring that workers looking to join unions would be free to do so.

It's clearly a stark contrast to many other tech and game companies that have been trying to work against the idea of labor unions for some time, including Activision Blizzard itself. Microsoft President Brad Smith made a statement in a blog post recently on the Microsoft website. This is an excerpt from his statement:

Recent union campaigns across the country - including in the tech sector - have led us to conclude that these issues will inevitably touch more companies, likely including ours. This has prompted us to think proactively about the best approach for our employees, shareholders, customers and other stakeholders.

Today we are announcing a new set of principles around employee organization and how we will interact with our employees, business organizations and other important stakeholders in important conversations about work. We recognize that this is a journey, and we will need to continue to learn and change as employees' expectations and perspectives with the world around us change. We understand that employers and employees will not always agree on all topics.

Smith discussed how the company believes it is important to listen to the concerns raised by employees. In a meeting with Axios, he also noted that Microsoft employees have the legal right to choose to form or join a union while emphasizing that all employees, unionized or not, will be able to form a collaborative relationship with Microsoft's senior leaders.

At that meeting, Smith also stated that it was inevitable that unions would touch more business while saying "we don't need to make contentious things that can be dealt with more amicably." It's funny that the Activision Blizzard deal was one of the reasons Microsoft came to this conclusion after evaluating its position on unions for several months.

While many different companies in the tech and gaming space have been less in favor of the idea of unions, labor leaders hope to eventually see them follow Microsoft's lead and open up more friendly channels for their employees. Smith himself just said that Microsoft was doing what it felt was right for itself without trying to push the industry.