It's Official: Sega of America Has Unionized
It's official: Sega of America has unionized. More than 200 workers working out of the company's offices in Irvine and Burbank voted today to unionize under the Allied Employees Guild Improving Sega banner, which is represented by the Communications Workers of America.
The election took place on July 10, with 91 voting "yes" and 26 voting "no." There were also 19 challenged ballots and three void ballots. It encompassed workers in departments including Brand Marketing, Games as a Service, Localization, Marketing, Product Development Ops, Sales, Quality Assurance, and others.
Sega of America workers announced the union back in April, with demands including higher base pay, improved benefits, and clear opportunities for career advancement.
The press release claims that the win makes the AEGIS-CWA the largest multi-department union of organized workers in the game industry. It joins the ZeniMax QA workers guild recognized by Microsoft back in January, with workers at Activision Blizzard also seeking to unionize. It will now head to the bargaining table to negotiate a contract with the Japanese publishing giant.
After months of organizing and weeks of enduring a brutal anti-union campaign by SEGA management, my friends at SEGA have done it!!So excited for everyone at SEGA to get the pay, benefits, and respect they all deserve. Solidarity forever! ✊ https://t.co/0YSHfTVUrH
Katrina Leonoudakis, who previously worked for Sega as a localization specialist, was among those celebrating the election on Twitter.
"After months of organizing and weeks of enduring a brutal anti-union campaign by SEGA management, my friends at SEGA have done it!! So excited for everyone at SEGA to get the pay, benefits, and respect they all deserve,"
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