With unionization in the gaming industry continuing to rise, a group ofSega of Americaemployees announced that they have voted for the right to unionize. The unionization vote had a supermajority of support fromSegaworkers at the Irvine office and was formed in partnership with the Communication Workers of America (CWA). The union election will be filed with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), with a final vote to come at a later date.The news of Sega of America’s unionization came as Sega announced itsacquisition of Finnish mobile game developer Rovio, the creators of theAngry Birdsfranchise. The deal is reported to go for approximately $776 million, yet is subject to regulatory approval. As other AAA developers continue to acquire studios, unionization efforts have had mixed success amid union-busting attempts. However, the union that Sega of America formed is, to date, different from what its counterparts have formed so far.RELATED:New Sonic the Hedgehog LEGO Sets Officially RevealedWhileQA workers at Zenimax were successfulin their unionization efforts, as well as Blizzard Albany and Raven Software, Sega of America’s unionization is across multiple departments at the Irvine office, which makes it the largest gaming union attempt of this magnitude. Some of these departments include QA, marketing, and localization. The union is called the Allied Employees Guild Improving Sega (AEGIS) and is a new member of the CWA’s growing reach in the gaming and tech industries. On Twitter, AEGIS stated that in order to give gamers the best experience they can deliver, unionization was their answer. AEGIS also stated that nearly a third of their Irvine workers still do not have meaningful benefits, such as full-time status and paid leave.
AEGIS stated that the union’s mission is to improve pay, healthcare benefits, workloads, and department staffing across all its member departments. Though the effects of this unionization vote will not be immediate, AEGIS remains hopeful that the boards of Sega of America and the larger company will voluntarily recognize the union. While it remains to be seen what Sega’s corporate office will say in response to the formation of AEGIS, the fledgling union remained optimistic about its chances. AEGIS stressed that Sega of America should follow the company’s neutrality policy, as stated in its code of conduct, much like howMicrosoft maintains a neutral policywhen it comes to working with labor unions.
Though Sega of America employees were successful in securing a union vote,union-busting from companies such as Nintendoand Activision Blizzard remains a problem that the industry continues to deal with. Only time will tell if AEGIS is successful in its endeavors.
