Sega of America "investigating and considering the options available" following staff unionisation efforts
"Union matters are new to me."
Sega of America is currently "investigating and considering the options available" to the company, following the news earlier this week that a "supermajority" of its employees were planning to unionise.
As Matt reported on Monday, this union - which calls itself the Allied Employees Guild Improving Sega, or AEGIS-CWA for short - aims to secure higher base pay, improved benefits, and a number of other goals.
In response, Sega of America's president and COO Ian Curran wrote a letter to all employees, addressing the formation of AEGIS.
In this letter, the Sega exec assured workers that "no [Sega of America] employee will be treated any differently whether they support or do not support unionisation". Curran went on to commend the "wonderful culture" at Sega of America, while stating the company is now investigating the options available to it. "Union matters are new to me," Curran wrote.
You can read Curran's letter in full below (thanks, Destructoid):
"We received word yesterday that a petition has been filed with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) by various SOA employees seeking union representation. Union matters are new to me and SOA and we are investigating and considering the options available to the company. As I understand it, the petition filing means that the NLRB will conduct a secret ballot election several weeks down the road for employees who are in specific job classifications to be determined by the NLRB. These employees will be voting for or against union representation.
"Some of you may support unionisation and some not. That is your legal right. No SOA employee will be treated any differently whether they support or do not support unionisation. We have a wonderful culture at SOA with a strong commitment to working together as a team. In my mind, it is the SOA employee culture that makes us such a successful company.
"We will be updating you regularly so that you're fully informed, understand what you can expect and what the NLRB process is about. If you have any questions, please feel free to reach out to Human Resources. We want all of your questions answered."
Soon after Curran's letter was sent out to all employees, Farrah N. Khan (who is the mayor of Irvine, where Sega Of America is based) voiced her support of AEGIS-CWA to Sega of America. In her letter, Khan asked that the company "voluntarily" recognises the union.
AEGIS' unionisation bid follows successful efforts to unionise by Microsoft's ZeniMax Studios, Activision Blizzard's Raven Software, and Blizzard Albany. Staff at the Activision-owned Proletariat Studios were forced to drop plans to form a union in January following alleged "confrontational tactics" by the developer's CEO.