Bethesda Devs Become The First Wall-To-Wall Studio To Unionize
Image Source: WCCFTech
The video game industry has seen a growing effort in recent years, among the developers who make it work, to organize and unionize as stories about crunch and abuse have been published one after another. This also comes as a staggering amount of developers have been laid off since the end of last year.
Now, one of the biggest developments in this growing movement comes from one of the most widely known studios. It was recently announced by developers at Bethesda, that 241 workers consisting of a majority there signed a union authorization card, and then Microsoft recognized their efforts. Going forward they will be represented by the CWA (Communications Workers of America).
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This effort comes after Bethesda’s Montreal studio unionized late last month, and quality assurance workers at Zenimax (the parent company of Bethesda) unionized. There is no indication of the NLRB (National Labor Relations Board), which governs workers' rights and monitors union elections, but that is likely because Microsoft voluntarily recognized the union’s formation. This follows a rule last year that gave the NLRB broader power and requires employers to recognize unions when a majority of employees have decided to pursue labor representation.
The new Bethesda union will now negotiate with Microsoft on a contract.
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Source(s): IGN
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