Jul 11, 2023 14:30:00

Sega of America Employees Support Union Formation, Gaming Industry's Largest Multi-Sectoral Union

Employees of SEGA of America (Sega of America) held an election asking whether or not to form a labor union, and expressed support for the formation of the union with a majority of 91 votes to 26 votes. More than 200 people will participate in the labor union '

AEGIS-CWA ', which includes employees from multiple departments, from product development and sales to translation, marketing and quality control. It is said that it will become a labor union that

WE WON!

We just won our union election 91-26.

Our 200+ member union is now the LARGEST multi-department union of organized workers in the ENTIRE gaming industry.

So excited to celebrate this win & head to the bargaining table w/ @SEGA to continue building this company we love! pic.twitter.com/2iy6loAruf

— AEGIS-CWA ???? #UnionizeSEGA (@takesAEGIS) July 10, 2023

Sonic Maker Sega Is The Game Industry's Next Union Battleground
https://kotaku.com/sega-unionize-sonic-angry-birds-yakuza-persona-nlrb-1850369510

Sega of America workers win union vote - Polygon

https://www.polygon.com/23789856/sega-of-america-workers-win-union-vote-nlrb

US Workers at Sega, Home of Sonic the Hedgehog Vote, to Join Union - Bloomberg
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2023-07-10/sega-of-america-workers-win-union-vote-joining-cwa

Sega of America Employees Support Unionization - Bloomberg
https://www.bloomberg.co.jp/news/articles/2023-07-11/RXLVNYT1UM0W01

In Japan, the Labor Union Act recognizes the right of workers to form a labor union. However, federal law in the United States allows companies to oppose union formation, making it difficult to form unions.

In April 2023, 144 employees of Sega of America announced the formation of the labor union 'AEGIS (Allied Employees Guild Improving Sega)' in partnership with the Communications Workers Union of America (CWA), raising basic salaries and providing benefits. They have demanded improvements in their skills and opportunities for career advancement.

Today we, a supermajority of workers at our @SEGA of America Irvine headquarters, are excited to announce that we are unionizing as the Allied Employees Guild Improving SEGA—AEGIS—in partnership with @code_cwa . #UnionizeSEGA pic.twitter.com/lzbwFUZOFH

— AEGIS-CWA ???? #UnionizeSEGA (@takesAEGIS) April 24, 2023

AEGIS asked Sega to voluntarily approve the union, but Sega refused.

More than 200 employees at Sega's offices in Irvine and Burbank voted in favor of forming a union. The poll, supervised by the National Labor Relations Commission, yielded 117 valid votes, 91 in favor and 26 against, in favor of forming a union. In addition, there were 19 votes to object and 3 invalid votes.

Momentum for union formation is increasing in the American game industry, and Sega of America's union formation is Raven Software under Activision, Blizzard Albany under Blizzard from 2021 under former Activision, ZeniMax under Microsoft, independent The fifth example following Tender Claws, an AR/VR game development company.

Most recently, Proletariat, a game studio under the umbrella of Activision and involved in the development of 'World of Warcraft', aims to form a labor union with all non-managerial employees, and in December 2022, applied to the National Labor Relations Board. However, there is a case where it was withdrawn in January 2023.

As mentioned above, there is a law in the United States that allows companies to oppose the formation of labor unions. The successive formation of labor unions by game studios under the umbrella of Activision seems to be due to the fact that Micoroft made an agreement with the labor union to ``do not interfere with the formation'' when acquiring Activision.

Microsoft agreed to ``do not oppose the union formation of Activision Blizzard'', a breakthrough in the United States where companies can legally interfere with unions - GIGAZINE