Sega of America Workers Overwhelmingly Vote To Unionize

Workers at Sega of America have voted to unionize. Engadget reports: In a union representation election with the National Labor Relations Board, the workers voted 91-26 in favor of their unit, which is called the Allied Employees Guild Improving Sega (AEGIS-CWA). Nineteen ballots were challenged, while three were void. As a result, the group has now officially organized with the Communication Workers of America.

The unit comprises more than 200 workers in various departments across the company, including the brand marketing, games as a service, localization, marketing services, product development, sales and quality assurance teams. While it's hardly the first games union in North America, the workers say it's "the largest multi-department union of organized workers in the entire gaming industry." However, ZeniMax Workers United/CWA includes around 300 quality assurance workers at ZeniMax Studios.

AEGIS-CWA plans to push for improved base pay and benefits, more staff to "eliminate overwork patterns" and more balanced workloads. The workers are also seeking remote work options, clearly defined responsibilities for each role and more.

Good for them

[HBI]

I mean, the company is going to do what they can to bust the union, by transferring jobs elsewhere, but that was predictable. A stand against corporate abuse of workers isn't a bad thing just because it means jobs are going to get snuffed out.

Too bad it's so difficult to organize, or there might be more of this, and be less easy to squash.

they have Labor unions in Japan but OT is bigger t

[Joe_Dragon]

they have Labor unions in Japan but OT is bigger there then the USA

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[HBI]

Historically, Japanese workers were willing to put up with things that US workers wouldn't. Wonder if that is still true.

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[MachineShedFred]

I think it is, but it's also a very different landscape - it's still fathomable that the employer you get after leaving college will be the same employer you retire from in Japan, because they still believe in internal advancement and talent development.

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[MachineShedFred]

The good news for "the rest of us" is that unionizing action causes changes beyond the strict boundaries of the union's influence. If enough shops start successfully unionizing, it causes the rest of the industry to take notice and give employees a better deal so they don't unionize themselves and the business gets fucked over as hard as they're currently fucking their employees.

I worked for an employer that had union employees as well as non-union based upon work location and duty. Very often, the non-un

Fewer people than I expected

[guruevi]

I expected Sega to be larger than 200 workers, according to one source they should have 5-10k employees. Is this jÌust 1 rogue department?

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[Can'tNot]

It's Sega of America [glassdoor.com], not the whole company.

Overwork

[sabt-pestnu]

"eliminate overwork patterns"

"We're not hiring more people so we can avoid paying additional benefits like insurance."

"We're not hiring more people because it's too late in the development cycle to add more people and expect results. ... and we're not going to move the release date."

My money's on the second. Hanlon's razor and all... When your staff tell you that your timelines are overly optimistic, and you don't take that into account because "but that's Christmas! We have to release for that season!"

You can demand nights and weekends from your staff, but there's a point at which you can't simply throw money (or threats) and get things to happen faster.

Unionize?

[nuckfuts]

How did they become ionized in the first place?

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[zerothbase]

Don't Do It! If you unionize, what are you except a collection of neutral uncharged particles?!

"Aegis". Nice name.

[Eunomion]

Does seem a bit small, but 200 together is better than 200 apart.