Over a month after its formation, Sega of America's worker-led union AEGIS has alleged its parent company is interfering with its unionization efforts. On Twitter, the union called on Sega to take a stance of neutrality ahead of its June 16 vote.
"Instead of living up to Sega’s values of 'respecting our employees’ right to organize for labor-management consultation,' management has initiated a campaign in response to us exercising our rights," it wrote. "We call on management to cease their anti-union campaign."
Allegations of union-busting at the hands of larger companies are common. Unlike with the unions for Bandcamp or Activision Blizzard, however, AEGIS doesn't indicate what kind of actions are being taken by management for the Japanese developer.
Conversely, Microsoft has repeatedly opted for neutrality as QA workers for ZeniMax unionized.
AEGIS previously expressed hope that Sega (of America and the company at large) would voluntarily recognize the union. It's now calling on the developer's players to contact management and "take the high road in your labor standards by remaining neutral and not interfering in your workers’ democratic right to organize."
Game Developer has reached out to Sega regarding AEGIS' allegations, and will update when a response is given.
We are disappointed that Sega management has decided to interfere in our democratic right to organize leading up to the NLRB mailing out our ballots on June 16. 🔽 pic.twitter.com/M0RkPlapIH
— AEGIS-CWA 💙 #UnionizeSEGA (@takesAEGIS) June 8, 2023