Video Game Workers Form First North American Industry-Wide Union With Communications Workers of America

Today, a radical of cross-discipline video crippled workers person announced the first-ever direct-join industry-wide national successful North America, known arsenic United Videogame Workers, organizing with Communications Workers of America (UVW-CWA).

UVW-CWA is simply a direct-join organization, meaning immoderate video crippled manufacture idiosyncratic successful the U.S. oregon Canada moving arsenic an artist, writer, designer, QA tester, oregon programmer tin join, careless of whether they are freelance oregon fulltime oregon whether oregon not different workers astatine their institution person joined.

In a property release, UVW-CWA shared that its ngo is "to not lone physique assemblage and solidarity amongst video crippled workers, but besides to physique large-scale acquisition campaigns astir labour organizing successful the video crippled industry." The group's archetypal contented run volition absorption connected the caller tide of manufacture wide layoffs, with workers readying to stock astir a petition astatine the Game Developers Conference (GDC) addressing the issue.

Additionally astatine GDC, UVW-CWA volition big aggregate panels, a rally, and a motorboat enactment to dispersed consciousness of the national and observe its formation. They volition besides person a booth connected the amusement floor, and volition administer a zine astatine the lawsuit with much accusation connected however to join.

This announcement fulfills a near-decade-long saga begun astatine the Game Developers Conference backmost successful 2018, erstwhile a unionization roundtable sparked a radical of individuals to signifier Game Workers Unite to propulsion for corporate labour enactment successful the industry. In consequent years, GWU continued to propulsion for manufacture unions, with their enactment ultimatley bearing effect successful caller years arsenic workers astatine companies including Activision, Blizzard, Zenimax, Bethesda, and Sega successful the U.S. organized.

Though this is the archetypal North American industry-wide union, different akin groups beryllium successful the UK and France, and developers successful union-friendly Sweden are besides progressively exercising their rights to signifier national clubs wrong their companies.

Rebekah Valentine is simply a elder newsman for IGN. You tin find her posting connected BlueSky @duckvalentine.bsky.social. Got a communicative tip? Send it to [email protected].