Sega of America workers win union vote

Sega of America workers voted “yes” to officially form a union. The National Labor Relations Board counted the group’s mailed-in votes on Monday, with the Allied Employees Guild Improving Sega, or AEGIS, winning the vote.

The total was 117 votes, with 91 in favor of the union and only 26 against. (Several ballots were challenged but not counted. The unit will include more than 144 roles at Sega of America’s Irvine, California office. This unit spans different departments including localization, marketing, gaming as a services, quality assurance, product development and games. In the Irvine office that opened in 2022 there are up to 235 employees. AEGIS CWA became the first major video game union to win a victory at a company that has multiple departments. Proletariat from Activision Blizzard in Boston tried to do this earlier, 2023. However, they ultimately retracted their union petition. After the NLRB certifies the union, it will be time to begin bargaining.

“Working for SEGA is a passion for many of us and it’s been so exciting to see that through organizing, we can make this work a sustainable long-term career,” QA lead Mohammad Saman said in a statement issued in April. “By creating our union, AEGIS-CWA, we’ll have a say in the decisions that shape our working conditions and ensure the job security and working conditions we deserve. We’re excited to protect what already makes SEGA great, and help build an even stronger company, together.”

The video game industry’s union push has largely been spearheaded by QA workers and indie studios, with indie Tender Claws Human Union leading the way with its department-spanning union.

Sega’s headquarters are in Japan. However, it also has localized offices around the world. It’s best known for its arcade and video games in franchises like Sonic the Hedgehog, Yakuza, and Persona. Sega Sammy is the holding company of Sega and Sammy Corporation. It gave its Japan employees a salary hike of 30% in February. However, it didn’t extend to other countries. Sega of America’s union members want to see higher salaries, increases that match inflation, better benefits and more staff in order to stop overworking at the company.

With this win, the video game industry’s unionization efforts have reached another milestone; the efforts kicked off officially in 2021 when defunct indie studio Vodeo Games announced its union. In the following years, unions continue to appear in studios of all sizes. ZeniMax Media QA is currently the biggest union. It voted yes on January. Activision Blizzard, which is still being acquired by Microsoft, has two unions.

Today’s win by the workers at Sega of America is part of a larger movement of game workers pushing back on industry norms that promote brutal overwork, discrimination, and unequal pay. A former employee of Pokémon GoNiantic filed a lawsuit against the company, alleging sexism and gender bias that devalues women. A union gives workers a seat at the table for negotiating and a voice in the workplace.