A group of employees who work for the company that supports BioWare, the studio behind hits like Mass Effect and Dragon Ageis taking its first steps towards a possible union.
United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) Canada Union, Local No. 401 has applied to become a “Certified Negotiating Agent” for a group of employees at Keysword Studios, which provides game development support services and quality checks for work such as producing art and doing localization test. On its website, Keywords Studios lists many well-known video game companies as clients, including BioWare owner EA, Microsoft, Nintendo, Ubisoft, Square Enix and Sega.
According to a notice from the Alberta Industrial Relations Commission shared on Reddit, the group seeking to organize includes “all employees working in development support at BioWare’s offices in Edmonton.” It’s unclear how many people this might represent, but it’s interesting to hear them working in BioWare’s flagship offices — though it’s not uncommon for studios to rely on personnel agents and outsourced labor.We did not find the notice elsewhere, but a board representative confirmed small house This is accurate.
The board will next determine whether the application meets certain requirements, including “at least 40% employee support” in the proposed unit. If this is the case, the unit can hold a secret ballot for the UFCW to negotiate on their behalf.The board and the UFCW have yet to reply from edge.
This is the announcement shared on Reddit.Image: u/KeywordsUnitedYEG on r/alberta
It’s still an early step, but with studios like Ubisoft and Activision Blizzard coming under scrutiny for the way they treat their employees, there’s a growing labor movement in the gaming industry. Vodeo Games employees created the first video game union in North America in December, and just last week, the National Labor Relations Board said 21 QA employees at Raven Software, the studio owned by Activision Blizzard call-of-duty series, will be allowed to conduct union elections.
It wasn’t immediately clear how BioWare, parent company EA or Keyword Studios might respond to the organization’s work, and no one immediately responded to a source from edge or small house.