Search the Community

SEGA of America is moving ahead with layoffs on 8 March 2024, that will affect 61 employees across the company's quality assurance and localisation departments. The notice, relayed via a Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification (WARN) that was shared on Twitter earlier today, states that staff from two offices in Irvine, California will be impacted, with 12 being laid off in one office and 49 in another (as per GI.biz). Proposed layoffs were made public back in November, following the successful unionisation of SEGA America's QA and localisation workers in July 2023. The plans were fought by the resulting Allied Employees Guild Improving SEGA (AEGIS) union for months before this apparent final decision had been made today, with AEGIS at the time alleging that SEGA America had not bargained in "good faith" by sidestepping union protocol. An Unfair Labor Practice charge was reportedly made against SEGA in November, but as we previously reported, any investigation is unlikely to conclude before these layoffs take place. Today, AEGIS released a statement on social media that took a dim view of SEGA's decision, but also announced that "through our union efforts, we’ve been able to more than double the number of saved jobs, and to offer severance to our temp workers." You can read the full statement below.

The Communications Workers of America has filed a charge with the Unfair Labor Practice office, accusing SEGA of side-stepping the AEGIS-CWA organisation in an attempt to lay off unionised workers. According to a report on Kotaku, on November 6 the house of Sonic "delivered a proposal to 'phase out' all temporary workers by February 2024 — many of which are in quality assurance and localization — to the Allied Employees Guild Improving Sega (AEGIS-CWA)... The layoffs would impact 40 percent of the group, or roughly 80 unionized employees total." With the filing, Kotaku writes that the union organisation accuses SEGA of "forcing employees into a meeting where they were told their jobs would be offshored to Japan and Europe, rather than bargaining over the layoffs directly with the union." If upheld, this means that SEGA would be in violation of rules against companies negotiating with employees rather than the unions that represent them. The Allied Employees Guild Improving Sega (AEGIS-CWA) union was formed only a few months ago, with the group representing a broad range of talent within the company, across marketing, sales, product development and other departments. Naturally, the organisation is not impressed with this latest news. "We hoped that Sega management would bargain in good faith, but instead they've shown disregard to status quo and are threatening to outsource the jobs of a majority of the workforce in our QA and Localization departments, which is up to 40% of our unit," reads a statement on the organisation's Twitter account today. "QA and Loc workers are critical to Sega of America's success. We remain united in our commitment to protect our coworkers and friends." Meanwhile Elise Willacker, a senior QA tester at SEGA, offered the following statement to Kotaku; "It’s disheartening to see such actions from Sega, as it unmistakably demonstrates bad faith bargaining and a refusal to recognize the valuable contributions of a significant portion of our colleagues. We have filed an Unfair Labor Practice charge to call out Sega’s direct dealing with members, and its breaching of the status quo by telling bargaining unit members that our jobs would be ending shortly." The complaint will head to the National Labor Relations Board for review, but there is fear that any investigations would not conclude in enough time to avoid any layoffs planned by SEGA. We'll keep you updated if there is any further news to come.

The results of an election that would determine whether or not SEGA of America workers will unionize are in, and it’s official: they are now unionized. This makes SoA’s union, AEGIS-CWA, the largest multi-department union in the game industry. The results weren’t especially close, at 91 for, 26 against. AEGIS must now go to the bargaining table with SEGA management to hammer out a union contract. You can read all about what led to the union forming here. This election comes months after AEGIS announced its formation and requested voluntary recognition from SEGA management. When SEGA refused to grant it, an election date for the union was chosen near the end of May. A few weeks later AEGIS accused SEGA management of interfering with their right to organize ahead of the election. AEGIS said SEGA management “initiated an anti-union campaign.” So, where do things go from here? Well, I’m no expert on unions, but I’ve followed unions enough that I think I can give you a broad idea. For one, SEGA and AEGIS representatives will need to meet to work out the details of a union contract. This contract will cover a certain number of years, and guarantee SEGA employees certain benefits. This tweet likely gives us an idea of what AEGIS will be trying to get. Once union leaders have a tentative contract with SEGA management, they will take it to their union members for a vote. If a plurality of members vote for the contract, it becomes official. If SEGA and AEGIS are unable to agree on a contract that can win a vote from members, a strike becomes a possibility. A union may authorize a strike ahead of or during negotiations. If a contract can’t be agreed upon, AEGIS members will be able to strike, which will allow them to refuse to work until a contract is signed. We are a long way from a strike, however. AEGIS hasn’t given us any sort of time table for when a contract will be agreed to, but we’ll know more in the coming weeks and months. via Twitter

SEGA of America president and COO Ian Curran has published an initial reaction to the recent forming of worker's union 'Allied Employees Guild Improving SEGA' in the form of a letter to employees of the entire regional operation. While a formal corporate response is still forthcoming, Curran's words in the letter could be interpreted as positive. The exec stated that "Union matters are new to me and SOA and we are investigating and considering the options available to the company" - however, he later made clear that "No SOA employee will be treated any differently whether they support or do not support unionization." The letter, published by Axios journalist Stephen Totilo on social media, added: "Some of you may support unionization and some not. That is your legal right... We have a wonderful culture at SOA with a strong commitment to working together as a team. In my mind, it is the SOA employee culture that makes us such a successful company." Next steps, as Curran is said to understand it, is for the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) to conduct a secret ballot of employees - in job positions selected by the NLRB - to determine if unionization will go ahead in a special vote. Meanwhile, the AEGIS Union has been gaining support on social media from fellow union organisations and regional political figures. More on this story as it happens.

144 employees at SEGA of America’s Irving, California office about to form what is will be the largest multi-department games industry union in the United States. They filed an election petition with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) with a supermajority of support within SEGA of America, meaning the union will almost certainly be certified. The new union, which will be called the “Allied Employees Guild Improving SEGA” or “AEGIS,” will partner with the Communications Workers of America (CWA) in representing the employees of SEGA of America’s various departments incuding QA, localization, product development, live services, and marketing. The official logo for AEGIS According to reporting from The Verge, work on the union began more than a year ago. Torie Winkler, senior community manager, told The Verge that a mutual love of the games they worked on fueled the unionization effort. Communication between departments over games eventually led to discussions of how unionization works. Over the course of the last year, employees haven’t experienced any anti-union sentiments from SEGA management. They’re hopeful that management in SEGA of America and Japan will voluntarily recognize the union once it is certified. AEGIS explained why they were unionizing in a statement on their new Twitter account, saying “We are unionizing because we love the games that we work on, we love our coworkers, and we love working at SEGA. But unfortunately for many this job is not sustainable. Our goal is to make SEGA someplace where we feel employees can thrive for many years to come.” The tweet goes into further detail, explaining various issues employees face, including below-industry-average pay, weak benefits, a lack of paths for promotion, and a third of long-time employees lacking full-time status and all the benefits that come with that. The union hopes to correct these issues by attaining a higher base pay, improved and stable benefits (such as healthcare and retirement), increased and clearly outlined opportunities for promotion, balanced workloads and schedules, and ensuring adequately staffed departments to end overwork. You can read the full statement here. AEGIS also has a petition, where you can show SEGA management you support the union, here. AEGIS also encouraged the tweeting of #UnionizeSEGA and #AEGISAlly as another way of showing your support. Now it’s up to the National Labor Relations Board, a federal agency responsible for enforcing US labor laws, to set a date and ensure the election is appropriately run. Once the election is certified, the union will be official. The Communications Workers of America, which AEGIS will be partnered with, is the largest communications and media labor union in the United States, representing more than 700,000 employees. They will go by the local union number “CWA Local 9510,” which is used to identify a union’s location.