Re: Little faggots behind D&D, Magic are speaking up about their company's stance on abortion rights

[Monica swallowed]

In article <rt4nrv$fsf$7...@neodome.net>
"screw some whores" <rudyc...@gmail.com> wrote:
>
> Democrats are willing to murder millions of babies and call it a right.
>

This is easy. Determine who those employees are, identify their
access to internal data, add replacements and then fire the
little assbags.

Politics doesn't belong in the workplace.

This is an old socialist trick to undermine management at the
expense of the survival of the company.

When you find cancer, cut it out and let it starve to death.

A company doesn't need people who are too ignorant to sort out
what are really rights in the first place.

Begin whine.

Some employees at Dungeons & Dragons and Magic: The Gathering
publisher Wizards of the Coast say they’re frustrated with owner
Hasbro’s response to Friday’s Supreme Court decision that
overturned Roe v. Wade, calling it “lackluster” and asking the
company to reconsider its stance.

Multiple gaming companies have expressed support for the right
to choose, some of which said they’re expanding healthcare
coverage to support workers that must travel to receive abortion
care. Since Friday, game studios such as Bethesda Softworks,
Insomniac Games, and Electronic Arts have issued public
statements in support of reproductive rights. Others, such as
Grand Theft Auto publisher Take-Two Interactive, have declined
to comment on the ruling. Hasbro and Wizards of the Coast have
similarly declined to comment publicly on social media channels;
instead, Hasbro CEO Chris Cocks and chief people officer Najuma
Atkinson sent a statement to staff on Monday.

In it, Hasbro executives wrote that the company has a “long
history” of access to healthcare benefits, “including
reproductive healthcare and other critical medical services,
regardless of where you live in the United States.” It also
mentions “new enhanced travel benefits,” but does not explain
further. Cocks and Atkinson also pointed workers toward the
company’s mental health benefits, which include the Headspace
app.

Wizards of the Coast employees are upset, however, because some
of the language avoids disavowing the Supreme Court decision and
asks employees to respect both sides.

“We know there are many perspectives over what is at stake with
the overturn of Roe v. Wade by the Supreme Court announced last
week,” Cocks and Atkinson wrote. “It is important we continue to
respect all employees’ perspectives in the workplace.”

They continued: “Let’s continue to prioritize and nurture
inclusion at Hasbro. Regardless of your individual views, this
is a time to demonstrate understanding, empathy, and kindness
for each other.”

A full copy of the internal memo to staff is reprinted below:

We are committed to fostering an inclusive workplace where our
colleagues feel welcomed, respected and represented.

We are also committed to, and have a long history of, providing
comprehensive health care benefits to our colleagues. We affirm
our commitment to providing consistent and equal access to
healthcare, including reproductive healthcare and other critical
medical services, regardless of where you live in the United
States. This applies to you, your spouse or domestic partner and
any dependents, and would cover new enhanced travel benefits. We
will continue to do everything we can to ensure that decisions
about your personal healthcare remain strictly confidential. If
you have concerns or questions on the situation and what
resources are available, we encourage you to speak with your HR
business partner.

We know that this may be a difficult time for many of you and
want to remind everyone that we offer several mental health
resources, including counseling and virtual therapy options,
that can be found here. The health, wellbeing and safety of all
our colleagues is of utmost importance for us.

Let’s continue to prioritize and nurture inclusion at Hasbro.
Regardless of your individual views, this is a time to
demonstrate understanding, empathy, and kindness for each other.

Speaking to Polygon under condition of anonymity, multiple
Wizards of the Coast workers said these statements legitimized
anti-abortion views that are dangerous to people. “This call
angered many employees, myself included, who feel that this is
legitimizing those who seek to strip marginalized groups of
their rights and pointedly ignoring the deadly consequences this
Supreme Court decision will have on reproductive health,” one
worker told Polygon.

Another current Wizards of the Coast employee said that while
the letter was “inoffensive,” some workers are upset over
“lackluster” or inadequate healthcare options. “To depend on
those things without actually providing new resources or better
resources is really not enough for a lot of people,” that
employee said.

On Monday night, a Twitter account, Wizards for Justice,
identifying itself as a group of Wizards of the Coast employees,
posted a statement denouncing Hasbro’s internal statement.
Polygon has not been able to confirm the authenticity of the
Twitter account or how many employees are involved. At least 13
current Wizards of the Coast workers that Polygon spoke to, from
various parts of the company, said they were not aware of a
statement or potential walkout before it went up. Some of those
workers said, however, that they supported the intent of the
Wizards for Justice message. Some noted that Wizards of the
Coast largely operates remotely, and workers were hesitant to
communicate using Hasbro’s Microsoft Teams accounts to talk
about the Twitter account and its message.


In the letter published to Twitter, the group said some workers
are “frustrated, disappointed, and completely dissatisfied” with
Hasbro’s response to the Supreme Court decision.

“Any messaging that suggests or implies that there are other,
valid opinions and approaches to this further marginalization of
already at risk groups on their bodily autonomy is unnecessary,
invalid, and damaging,” Wizards for Justice wrote. “Such
messaging only seeks to protect and validate those that seek to
control, and is the wrong direction for any organization with as
diverse a customer base as ours.”

The Wizards of Justice account called on Wizards of the Coast
employees to walk out of work on Wednesday to “reflect, nurture
mental health, and show solidarity that Hasbro will not.”

One Wizards of the Coast worker said they and their team plan on
logging off on Wednesday in support, but were unsure whether
others would do the same. Neither Hasbro nor Wizards of the
Coast has responded to Polygon’s request for comment.

The cultural impact of Magic: The Gathering and Dungeons &
Dragons cannot be understated; both games have influenced game-
making for decades, with tens of millions of players combined.
Wizards of the Coast has also been huge a revenue generator for
Hasbro, which acquired the company in 1999. The success of its
marquee brands helped the Rhode Island-based company to top $1
billion in revenue in 2021, with Wizards’ business unit
accounting for 72% of Hasbro’s operating profit for the year.
Building on that success, the company also has an animated
series and a major motion picture due this year.

Hasbro itself has three main subsidiaries: Consumer Products,
Entertainment, and Wizards & Digital. The company employs 5,000
people, by its count. Wizards of the Coast is located in
Washington state, but has offices around the country, including
in Texas, one of many states where abortion is now illegal.

Over the past few years, social media has become an increasingly
common tool for workers to organize and air grievances with
their employers. Social media accounts from workers at Ubisoft,
Activision Blizzard, Riot Games, Cards Against Humanity, and
others have popped up as a way for workers to collectively
express their opinions about their workplaces. Operating as a
collective voice, these social media accounts give workers the
anonymity to speak freely about their struggles. That anonymity
also complicates verifying an account’s authenticity or
understanding the scope of the movement, but some workers often
feel it’s the best or only option to publicly discuss issues
related to the workplace.

Activision Blizzard QA workers at Raven Software used the
momentum from their social media outreach to garner support for
their eventual union, which was certified last month.

https://www.polygon.com/23188223/wizards-of-the-coast-hasbro-
abortion-rights-response