SEGA Workers Win Union Election with CWA becoming Largest Multi-Department Union within U.S. Gaming Industry

(Irvine, CA) — Today the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) announced that in a 91-26 vote, workers at SEGA of America overwhelmingly won their election for a union. Workers have unionized under the banner of Allied Employees Guild Improving SEGA (AEGIS-CWA) and are represented by Communications Workers of America (CWA). As the workers behind successful franchises like Sonic the Hedgehog, Persona, and Like a Dragon, this union election reflects the growing trend of workers in the video game industry fighting for a sustainable future in the industry by exercising their right to organize. 

The current unit includes over 200 workers based out of the company’s Irvine, CA headquarters and its Burbank, CA offices, including members of the Brand Marketing, Games as a Service, Localization, Marketing Services, PD Ops, Product Development, Sales, Quality Assurance teams, and others. With this victory, AEGIS-CWA became the largest multi-department union of organized workers within the game industry. 

"We are overjoyed to celebrate our union election win as members of AEGIS-CWA. From the start of this campaign, it has been clear that we all care deeply about our work at SEGA. 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. Together we can build an even better SEGA. We hope our victory today is an inspiration to other workers across the gaming industry. Together, we can raise standards for all workers across the industry,”said Ángel Gómez, Translator and member of AEGIS-CWA. 

A supermajority of workers announced their union on April 21, 2023 and included clear demands to improve their working conditions. Through a union contract, AEGIS-CWA members hope to secure higher base pay for all workers, improved benefits, flexible work opportunities, balanced workloads and clear opportunities for career advancement in addition to other improvements to strengthen the workforce and company. AEGIS-CWA workers are part of a wave of union organizing with video game workers at Activision Blizzard and Microsoft’s Zenimax studio and card and tabletop game workers at companies including eBay subsidiary TCG Player and Paizo forming unions with CWA.

“Nothing is more inspiring than watching workers win a many months campaign to secure their protected voice on the job. For far too long, workers in the gaming industry have experienced eroding work conditions and undignified wages. Through a union contract AEGIS-CWA workers will have the power to improve working conditions for themselves and reset what is considered acceptable for all workers across the industry,” said CWA Local 9510 President Peter O’Brien. 

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The Campaign to Organize Digital Employees (CODE-CWA) is a network of worker-organizers and their staff working every single day to build the voice and power necessary to ensure the future of the tech, game, and digital industries in the United States and Canada. CODE-CWA is a project of the Communications Workers of America which represents hundreds of thousands of workers throughout tech, media, telecom, and other industries who stand together to fight for justice on the job and in our communities.