Numerous workers at Sega of America came together Tuesday to form the Allied Employees Guild Improving Sega (AEGIS) union and have partnered with the Communications Workers of America.
“As employees at Sega, our goal is to create high-quality games and cross-media experiences for our wide, devoted fanbase,” reads a AEGIS statement on Twitter. “Our lack of control over our working conditions has greatly hampered this goal.”
According to The Verge, AEGIS is already a supermajority of 144 employees across various internal departments at Sega of America based out of Irvine, California. The announcement claims that a third of Sega’s long-time workers don’t have full-time status, adequate training, or bereavement leave.
“I really hope that management recognizes that we’re not doing this out of any sort of antagonism,” Torie Winkler, senior community manager, said via The Verge. “We are doing this because we respect our coworkers, and we want to be able to make a sustainable workplace.”
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’ requests at this time include the following:
- Higher base pay for all, following industry standards, with raises tied to the cost of living and inflation
- Improved, stable benefits for all, including healthcare, retirement, remote work opportunities, and more
- Increased, clearly outlined opportunities for advancement
- Balanced workloads and schedules and defined responsibilities for all positions
- Adequate staffing of departments to end patterns of overwork
Numerous companies within the video game industry have successfully voted for unionization recently, including Blizzard and ZeniMax.
Written by Kyle Campbell on behalf of GLHF.
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