Pro-union organization Game Workers Unite (GWU) has become an official branch of the Independent Workers Union of Great Britain (IWGB), making its the UK’s first and only games industry union.
The Game Workers Unite UK branch of the IWGB will operate as an autonomous, worker-led democratic organization with the aim of representing and advocating for the rights of games industry employees in the UK.
Laying out its key goals in a blog post, GWU explained it will seek to end the institutionalized practice of unpaid overtime, improve diversity and inclusion at all levels, support abused or harassed workers, and secure a steady and living wage for all.
“For as long as I can remember it has been considered normal for games workers to endure zero-hours contracts, excessive unpaid overtime, and even sexism and homophobia as the necessary price to pay for the privilege of working in the industry,” branch founding member Dec Peach told TechCrunch.
“Now, as part of the IWGB, we will have the tools to fix this broken sector and create an ethical industry where it’s not only big game companies that thrive, but workers as well.”
The branch will be open to all “past, current, and soon to be workers in the video games industry,” although managers with direct hiring and firing power won’t be allowed to join.
The inaugural GWU meeting will be held on December 16. You can find out how to get involved by following this here link.