Sega Of America Employees Vote To Unionize, Now Largest Multi-Department Union In Games Industry

Update, 7/10/23:

AEGIS-CWA (Allied Employees Guild Improving Sega in partnership with the Communication Workers of America), the Sega of America union filed back in April, has won its union election, with 91 votes in favor of the union and 26 votes against it.

AEGIS CWA has announced that it is the largest union for organized games workers. The AEGIS CWA announced the good news on Twitter today. It said it was “so happy to celebrate and go to the negotiation table.” [with Sega]”We want to build this business we love.” 

Sega Management chose to not voluntarily acknowledge the result. 

Game Informer Sega was contacted to provide a comment. This story will be updated if a response is received.

Below is the continuation of this original story.

Update, 4/26/23:

Game Informer Sega of America has been contacted to provide a comment about this union application filed by 144 Sega of America employees on the 24th of April, 2023. Sega of America’s president and COO Ian Curran sent a letter to Sega of America staff this morning. Below you can find the full text of this letter. 

Dear Team Sega,

Yesterday we learned that a number of SOA workers had filed a request for union representation with the National Labor Relations Board. We are investigating the possibilities and evaluating the available options for SOA. Unions are a new concept to both me and SOA. According to what I’ve read, the filing of the petition means the NLRB is going to conduct a secret vote election for certain job categories that will be decided by the NLRB in a few weeks. The employees are voting on whether or not they want to be represented by a union.

Unionization is a matter of opinion. Some people may favor it, others not. It is your right. SOA will treat all employees equally, regardless of whether they favor or oppose unionization. SOA has a great culture with an emphasis on teamwork. It is my opinion that the SOA culture makes our company so successful.

We will be updating you regularly so that you’re fully informed, understand what you can expect and what the NLRB process is about. Human Resources can be contacted if you have questions. All of your questions will be answered.

Please continue to do your best.

Below is the continuation of this original story.

Original Story 4/24/23

Sega of America employees have applied for unionization. 

Today, The VergeSega of America announced that the supermajority of its 144 employees in quality assurance, localization and marketing departments, as well as product development, have formed a union. This team of workers headquartered in Sega of America’s Irvine, California office filed its union election with the National Labor Relations Board and will go by the name Allied Employees Guild Improving Sega (AEGIS) in partnership with the Communications Workers of America, The Verge reports. 

The new union states: Twitter. This is our path to the future. #UnionizeSEGA” 

AEGIS released an extended statement explaining why the union is unionizing as well as what they want for their members. The full text of the statement is below. 

The Verge The article interviewed two of the members of this union, and wrote that they are both “hopeful” that Sega of America or its Japanese parent will recognize their union. Check out this article to learn more about the unionization efforts. The Verge Full story

Game Informer has reached out to Sega of America for comment and will update this story accordingly if comment is received. 

[Source: The Verge]