British developers got their own union. The division of the Independent Workers’ Union of Great Britain (IWGB) — Game Workers Unite — became the first organization representing the interests of game dev workers.
The new trade union will solve the following problems of industry workers:
- excessive and often unpaid overtime (crunches);
- the existence of zero-time contracts (especially this problem affects testers);
- widespread homophobia and sexism, lack of ethnic and socio-cultural diversity in the industry.
As far as I know, gaming industry workers consider it the norm when they have to endure zero contracts, unpaid overtime, sexism and homophobia for the opportunity to be part of a game dev. Now, as part of IWGB, we have the opportunity to solve these problems and create an ethical industry where not only large gaming companies, but also ordinary workers will flourish.
Founder of Game Workers Unite
The union is open to all employees of the video game industry: former, current and future. This includes temporary, contract and agency workers. Only employers will not be included in Game Workers Unite.
IWGB expects that hundreds of game developers will join the union in the first months.
The decision of industry workers to join the IWGB branch should be a wake-up call for the British game dev.
IWGB General Secretary
Official representatives of Game Workers Unite will be selected on December 16 at the first meeting of the organization.
In its press release, IWGB writes that the union is called upon to combat the exploitation of workers in one of the fastest growing industries in the UK. The game dev community of this country is the largest in Europe. According to the British Association of Interactive Entertainment, it employs about 47 thousand people.
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