The Communications Workers of America and the American Federation of Musicians have announced the United Videogame Workers Union, the first North American industry-wide union that any employee working within the field can join.
Per a press release on the new UVW website, the union will demand "dignity and job security for all video game workers", with the union pointing to the devastating slew of layoffs that's been assailing the industry in the last couple of years.
The union's mission statement is to "take back our lives, our labor, and our passion from those who treat us like replaceable cogs", and to work to create a gaming industry that "nourishes its talent and invests in its future, rather than constantly seeking short-term profits".
Anyone working in the gaming industry in the US and Canada can join the UVW union, and the organization's mission statement says its structure allows you to do so "without the obstacles and delays that employers can impose during the traditional union certification process".
In addition to US and Canada employees, the UVW union will also encompass "video game contractors, freelancers, indie developers, workers who are currently unemployed, and workers who are already organizing their workplaces", so even if you already have a workplace union, you can join up.
CWA senior director of organizing Tom Smith says the new union is a "cumulative effort" by workers to "redefine what it means to stand together and reclaim power", while CWA president Claude Cummings Jr. describes the union as an "exciting next step" in the journey to "help video game workers build power in their industry".
You can read the UVW's mission statement right here via its official website, and if you're a North American gaming employee and you'd like to apply to join the union, then you can do so here.
