Matt Wales
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Sega of America workers have formally voted to unionise, under the name the Allied Employees Guild Improving Sega (AEGIS-CWA), after announcing plans to do so earlier this year.
A “supermajority” of 144 employees spread across marketing, localisation, product development, and quality assurance at Sega of America revealed its intention to unionise back in April, with the aim of securing higher base pay, improving benefits, and more.
At the time, the group confirmed it had contacted the National Labor Relations Board in order to file for an election, to which Sega management were said to be “investigating and considering the options available”. That election has now taken place, with 91 employees voting yes and 26 voting no out of 200+ eligible employees.
Once the National Labor Relations Board has certified today’s results, the Allied Employees Guild Improving SEGA will be the fifth video game union in the United States, following successful unionisation efforts at Microsoft’s ZeniMax Studios, Activision Blizzard’s Raven Software, Blizzard Albany, and VR/AR indie developer Tender Claws.
Tender Claws became the first US video game union to span multiple departments, but today’s vote at Sega will make AEGIS-CWA the first multi-department union at a major games company.
“We are overjoyed to celebrate our union election win as members of AEGIS-CWA,” Ángel Gómez, a translator at Sega, said in a press release accompanying today’s news (thanks Polygon). “Now, through our union, we’ll be able to protect the parts of our jobs we love, and strengthen the benefits, pay, and job stability available to all workers.”