Tabletop RPG maker Paizo will voluntarily recognize its labor union. said the company on Thursday. The announcement comes less than a week after the workers at the Star finder and scout The publisher announced its intention to organize with the help of the Communication Workers of America (CWA), which has been an integral part of union work in the video game industry over the past few years. United Paizo Workers (UPW) will now seriously negotiate with Paizo’s management about its first contract.
UPW announced its intention to form a union on October 14, citing “inconsistent hiring practices, wage inequality across the company, allegations of verbal abuse of executives and management, and allegations of harassment ignored or covered up by executives”. A first letter, signed by more than 30 current employees, called for action. Following voluntary recognition, UPW will now promote the election of a collective bargaining committee that will then work with Paizo’s management to negotiate the terms of his new contract.
“To make big changes in the workplace, we need to negotiate our first contract with management,” UPW wrote in Thursday’s press release. “One of our goals is to raise wages to better meet the cost of living, and that will likely be the first issue we address.”
Paizo is located in Redmond, Washington, just outside Seattle. The company came under public fire in September after former employees talked about sexual harassment and other workplace misconduct on social media. UPW’s first statement was signed by less than half of Paizo’s 80 full-time workers, but officials say more workers have since joined the union after first efforts began. At least some freelancers who work with Paizo also reportedly refused to continue working
Game workers are increasingly trying to bargain collectively, in which workers come together to exercise their power. Union formation has the potential to “address the deep and essential link between economic rights and social justice,” wrote CWA campaign leader Emma Kinema in August. “The reality is that when marginalized game workers experience inequality, harassment or abuse, they don’t always have the same level of economic security and independence to push back as their more privileged counterparts do.” A union can help fill this gap to close by protecting marginalized workers with this collective power.
Paizo is now one of the first game companies in North America to form a certified union, Kinema said. In 2020, Cards Against Humanity employees organized with the Chicago and Midwest Regional Joint Board of Workers United after reports of a racist, sexist work environment were reported.
Even in factories where union organization has not become official, workers use collective power to get management to improve conditions. Mobile app employee Lovestruck: Choose your romance went on strike for 21 days, successfully demanding better working conditions. Employees at large companies like Riot Games and Activision Blizzard have also left their jobs; Most recently, Activision Blizzard employees stopped work for a day in protest of management’s response to a complaint of workplace misconduct and sexual harassment in California. Thousands of current and former Activision Blizzard employees signed an open letter in support of the lawsuit and the strike that followed.
Polygon contacted Paizo and UPW for more information.
