A “supermajority” of employees at Sega of America have announced plans to unionise, with the aim of securing higher base pay, improved benefits, and a number of other goals.
This latest unionisation effort is being organised in conjunction with the Communications Workers of America labour union – which has previously assisted employees at the likes of Activision Blizzard King and ZeniMax Studios – and represents a broad selection of departments and disciplines at Sega’s Irvine, California headquarters.
According to Axios, the group – which calls itself the Allied Employees Guild Improving Sega, or AEGIS-CWA for short – consists of 144 employees with roles across marketing, localisation, product development, and quality assurance.
AEGIS says it represents a supermajority of workers at Sega of America’s Irvine office, and has filed for an election with the National Labor Relations Board. “We are united in our belief that by banding together, we can secure a future where we are empowered to advocate for ourselves, and for our colleagues,” it wrote in a statement shared on Twitter.
“In our quest to reclaim our collective power,” it continued, “we have built bridges with fellow workers from across our company in an effort to understand our shared issues, and those that are unique to each department. As one example, nearly a third of Sega’s long-time workers still lack full-time status, paid time off, proper training, or even bereavement leave, despite dedicating years of their lives to Sega.”
AEGIS’ statement also outlines the goals it intends to achieve through unionisation:
- 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 for overwork
AEGIS’ unionisation bid follows successful efforts to unionise by Microsoft’s ZeniMax Studios, Activision Blizzard’s Raven Software, and Blizzard Albany. Staff at the Activision-owned Proletariat Studios were forced to drop plans to form a union in January following alleged “confrontational tactics” by the developer’s CEO.
