Microsoft Workers to Form Company’s First Union in the U.S.

A group of Microsoft Corp. MSFT -0.10% employees has voted to form the software company’s first labor union in the U.S., marking the latest example of workers from top tech companies organizing in recent years.

The group comprises about 300 quality-assurance testers in Microsoft’s ZeniMax unit, the Communications Workers of America, which is representing it, said on Tuesday. Just a handful of U.S.-based unions exist in the videogame industry.

“We look forward to engaging in good faith negotiations as we work towards a collective bargaining agreement,” a spokeswoman for Microsoft and ZeniMax said.

In June, Microsoft said it was open to working with any labor unions that want to organize within its workforce, making it an outlier in the tech industry. Last year Amazon.com Inc. AMZN 2.17% contested workers’ efforts to unionize. Microsoft has said it would support workers at Activision Blizzard Inc. ATVI 0.43% who organized last year should its $75 billion deal for the “Call of Duty” developer close.

“Microsoft has lived up to its commitment to its workers and let them decide for themselves whether they want a union,” CWA President Chris Shelton said. “Other video game and tech giants have made a conscious choice to attack, undermine, and demoralize their own employees when they join together to form a union.”