Well over 100 employees at Sega based in Irvine, California recently took the first steps toward unionization, a process aimed at improving their living and working conditions. The workers who are broadly responsible for testing, localizing, and marketing games have been seeking more compensation, better support in the workplace, and a sufficiently balanced schedule.
The workers in question have partnered with the Communications Workers of America in support of their unionization efforts and have already filed an application with the National Labor Relations Board. The group is now calling on Sega to voluntarily recognize the union which, if successfully founded, would be called the Allied Employees Guild Improving Sega. This would represent one of the most diverse unions in the games industry, encompassing multiple organizational departments including both administrative and development teams.
“By creating our union, AEGIS-CWA, we’ll have a say in the decisions that shape our working conditions and ensure the job security and working conditions we deserve,” Quality Assurance Lead Mohammad Saman said in a statement. “We’re excited to protect what already makes Sega great and help build an even stronger company, together.”
This comes in the context of a growing trend within the games industry towards unionization. Raven Software became the first major studio to successfully achieve a unionized working environment, being followed by the developers BioWare, Blizzard, and Bethesda. The most notable difference between these unionization efforts and the ongoing movement at Sega is the scope, drawing in a wide variety of different workers from across the company including community managers, game developers, and marketers.
“In our quest to reclaim our collective power, we have built bridges with fellow workers from across our company in an effort to understand our shared issues and those that are unique to each department,” the Allied Employees Guild Improving Sega explained on Twitter. “We come together as a united front and are committed to establishing a culture of equity, diversity, and open communication. Together, we will ensure fair treatment for all employees, regardless of position.”
Communications Workers of America has been calling on Sega to sign a pledge of neutrality concerning unionization efforts at the company, similar to the agreement reached with Microsoft following the recent acquisition of Activision Blizzard. Microsoft has been the only company to voluntarily recognize unionization within the games industry. The move towards unionization at Sega has, on the other hand, been relatively frictionless, at least for the moment. “I really hope that management recognizes that we’re not doing this out of any sort of antagonism,” Senior Community Manager Torie Winkler explained. “We are doing this because we respect our coworkers and we want to be able to make a sustainable workplace.”