The AEGIS-CWA union has filed a formal complaint with the United States NLRB (National Labor Relations Board) over the actions of SEGA of America in recent days.
According to union representatives to Kotaku, on November 6, the company met with unionized workers to announce the intention to eliminate all temporary jobs between now and February 2024.
The complaint to the NLRB comes because the legislation indicates that companies cannot negotiate directly with unionized employees, but must hold conversations with the union as a whole.
Last April, SEGA of America workers announced their intention to form a union, which was finally approved and has more than 200 members. It is one of the largest unions in the world of video games in the United States and the largest with employees from different departments.
This measure would affect 40% of the union members, about 80 people. The temporary jobs are mainly located in the areas of QA (quality control) and localization, which SEGA intends to take to Europe or Japan.
We hoped that Sega management would bargain in good faith, but instead they’ve shown disregard to status quo and are threatening to outsource the jobs of a majority of the workforce in our QA and Localization departments, which is up to 40% of our unit . (23)
— AEGIS-CWA 💙 #UnionizeSEGA (@takesAEGIS) November 16, 2023
Elise Willacker, senior QA tester at the company, assures Kotaku that these actions “unequivocally demonstrate bad faith in negotiations and the refusal to recognize the valuable contributions of an important part of our colleagues.”
One aspect that works against employees is time, since complaints before the NLRB can take between seven and fourteen weeks to be reviewed.
AEGIS-CWA demands that SEGA of America withdraw the proposal, sign permanent contracts with all temporary workers and return to the negotiating table in good faith.
