Official announcement: Sega of America formed a union. More than 200 workers at the company’s offices in Irvine and Burbank voted today to form a union under the banner of Allied Workers’ Union Better SEGA, represented by Telecommunications Workers of America. bottom.
The election was held on July 10, with 91 voting “yes” and 26 “no”. There were also 19 challenged ballots and 3 invalid ballots. This included employees from departments such as brand his marketing, games as a service, localization, marketing, product development operations, sales and quality assurance.
Sega of America employees announced in April that they were forming a union, demanding higher base pay, better benefits and clear career advancement opportunities.
The press release claims that the victory will make AEGIS-CWA the largest organized multi-sector union in the gaming industry. The company joined the ZeniMax QA workers union recognized by Microsoft in January, and Activision Blizzard workers are also calling for union formation. In the future, we will head to the table of contract negotiations with a major Japanese publishing company.
After months of organizing and enduring weeks of brutal anti-union campaigns by SEGA management, our friends at SEGA have done it!!
Everyone at Sega is thrilled to have the pay, benefits and respect they deserve.
Unity forever! ✊ https://t.co/0YSHfTVUrH— Katrina Leonoudakis 💙#UnionizeSEGA (@katrinaltrnsl8r) July 10, 2023
Katrina Leonoudakis, who previously worked for Sega as a localization specialist, was among those who celebrated the election on Twitter.
“After months of organizing and weeks of enduring a brutal anti-union campaign by SEGA management, our friends at SEGA have done it!! I am very excited to have the respect,” Leonoudakis wrote.
IGN reached out to Sega for comment.
Sega Joins Growing Wave of Labor Unions in Gaming Industry
The growing wave of unions is seen as an antidote to the low wages, long hours and poor working conditions that plague the gaming industry, especially in sectors such as QA testing. Union supporters have been a strong presence at events like game developer conferences for years, and there is growing support for unionization among game workers.
Last year, Polygon released a free brochure detailing video game union formation entitled “Rise of the Video Game Union”. It is positioned as an account of the process of unionization and the history of video game unions as a whole, including his Atari employees in 1984 and his 2008 unsuccessful unionization attempt by a company that is not a wholly owned subsidiary of his Ubisoft. It was done.
Unions continue to be a hot topic within the gaming industry, and Sega has recently joined the movement.
“Working at Sega is a passion for many of us, and we are very excited to see that through organization, we can turn this work into a sustainable long-term career,” said Sega’s head of QA and an AEGIS member. said Mohammad Saman at the union’s formation. First announced.
“By forming our trade union, AEGIS-CWA, we will have a say in decisions that shape working conditions, ensuring job security and the working conditions we deserve. We’re excited to protect and help build what’s already made SEGA so great.” Together, let’s build an even stronger company. “
Kat Bailey is IGN’s Director of News and co-host of Nintendo Voice Chat. Any tips? Send her a DM at @the_katbot.
