Sega Of America tells unionisers company is “investigating and considering” options

27 April, 2023

Sonic Origins

Sega Of America has told staff that it is “investigating and considering the options available to the company”, as a large number of workers at the Sonic The Hedgehog developer have filed to unionise.

Earlier in the week, Sega Of America workers announced the formation of Allied Employees Guild Improving Sega (AEGIS-CWA), which was founded after staff told NME they felt “under-valued and overworked” at the company.

While Sega has not yet confirmed whether it will voluntarily acknowledge AEGIS, yesterday (April 26) Sega Of America president Ian Curran sent a company-wide letter addressing the formation of AEGIS.

“We received word yesterday [April 25] that a petition has been filed with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) by various SOA employees seeking union representation,” he wrote. “Union matters are new to me and SOA and we are investigating and considering the options available to the company.”

Sega. Credit: Chesnot / Getty Images.
Sega. Credit: Chesnot / Getty Images.

“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.”

Curran also added that “No SOA employee will be treated any differently whether they support or do not support unionisation,” and touched on “a wonderful culture at SOA with a strong commitment to working together as a team”.

“We have a wonderful culture at SOA with a strong commitment to working together as a team,” added Curran. “In my mind, it is the SOA employee culture that makes us such a successful company.”

Curran added that the company will be “regularly” updating workers on the process going forward.

Shortly after Curran’s letter was sent to staff, Farrah N. Khan — the mayor of Irvine, where Sega Of America is based — wrote to the president to voice support for AEGIS.

In the letter, Khan urged Sega to be a “high road employee” and follow the example of Microsoft, who made a “binding commitment” to union neutrality in 2022. Khan also asked Sega to “voluntarily recognise” the union by tomorrow (April 28).

As unionisation has swept the games industry, not all employers have voluntarily recognised the unions formed at their companies. In 2022, Activision Blizzard pushed back on workers’ attempts to organise at Raven Software and Blizzard Albany — though both ultimately won their bid to unionise.

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