BioWare contractors in Canada vote unanimously to form union

polygon.com:

Quality assurance (QA) workers at Keywords Studios’ Edmonton, Canada location, which supports BioWare projects like Mass Effect: Legendary Edition, have voted unanimously in favor of a union, they announced Monday.

The Alberta Labour Board counted the votes Monday and found all 16 eligible QA workers voted yes. The Keywords workers announced that total in a news release they put out. The Alberta Labour Board, citing a law that requires it to wait 24 hours before announcing results, declined to comment.

A representative for the new Keywords workers’ union said that bargaining will begin this week. The studio itself did not respond to Polygon’s request for comment.

“We’re ecstatic,” James, a Keywords Studios QA worker and organizing committee member, told Polygon on Monday. “We’re super happy. It will assist us going forward into bargaining that the whole team is completely united on this effort.”

Keywords Studio QA workers started talking about unionization in March after the studio implemented a return-to-office order that meant hundreds of dollars in extra expenses for commuting workers. Already frustrated by low pay, the workers found higher commuting costs harder to swallow, and also found the work-from-home flexibility a meaningful benefit. Keywords Studios QA workers said they don’t receive paid time off, which made going back to the office more challenging, too. Developing any COVID-19 symptoms would mean having to take a personal day off, rather than simply being able to work from home.

“We all got together and started talking about what it would look like in terms of costs for each of us individually,” James said. “We had a choice. We can either try to quit and go find another job, but we love what we do. We