There’s now an industry-wide union for video game workers in the US and Canada. The United Videogame Workers-CWA (UVW-CWA) has a mission to convey collectively “artists, writers, designers, QA testers, programmers, freelancers and past to construct employee energy regardless of studio and present job standing.”
The union makes its official debut on the “Video Game Labor at a Crossroads: New Pathways to Industry-Wide Organizing” panel at GDC. Workers shall be sharing a petition on the occasion to realize assist for the union and to shine a light-weight on the latest glut of business layoffs. As a matter of reality, the primary main situation the union seeks to handle is layoffs, provided that one in ten builders had been proven the door in 2024.
Workers can even be passing round a zine that features the group’s mission assertion, FAQs and an op-ed. This is a direct-join union, that means that workers can join on their very own. This permits of us to bypass conventional unionization processes like elections and employer consent.
We aren’t certain if this may catch on all through the business or if main publishers will acknowledge the union. However, it’s simply the newest salvo in the continued battle between business workers and company bigwigs. Over 600 QA workers at Activision, which is owned by Microsoft, just lately joined the Communications Workers of America (CWA.) ZeniMax Online Studios workers fashioned their very own union on the tail-end of final yr and Sega of America workers did one thing comparable.
These unions have additionally been busy. The CWA has been embroiled in a struggle with Microsoft and Activision over unfair labor practices on behalf of workers at Raven Software. Members of ZeniMax Workers United-CWA additionally went on a one-day strike final yr to restrict Microsoft’s use of outsourcing.
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