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.
The comment comes against the backdrop of recent agitations
from employees at several technology companies.
Last month, a small group of workers in a division of “Call
of Duty” videogame maker Activision Blizzard, which is being taken over by
Microsoft, voted in favor of unionizing.
In response, Activision said it believes 19 employees should
not be able to make a decision impacting a larger group of its employees.
Amazon.com Inc has been long opposed to unionization efforts
by its warehouse employees and was last month accused of threatening staff over
a union vote.
“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,” Smith
said.
Microsoft does not believe that employees or other
stakeholders will benefit by resisting lawful efforts to participate in
activities like unionization, he added.