United Wizards of the Coast - CWA (@uwotc-official.bsky.social)
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Today is a momentous day for the workers of Arena! After months of planning, waiting and organizing, our dream is finally a reality; the votes have been counted, and our union of UWOTC-CWA has been officially elected. From this day forward, we have a union!

Today is a momentous day for the workers of Arena! After months of planning, waiting and organizing, our dream is finally a reality; the votes have been counted, and our union of UWOTC-CWA has been officially elected. From this day forward, we have a union!

To the thousands who signed our petition letter, the journalists who let us tell our own story, every person who reached out with words of encouragement, our stewards at the CWA who helped guide us, we cannot thank you enough for your support.

We stand on the shoulders of giants, and we can only hope that our victory in turn inspires others to start unionizing at their own workplaces. Change is possible when workers stand together! We hope to share good news of a ratified contract with all of you soon.

  • AndrewMAEnglish
    7·
    16 days ago

    This is great news!

    I know generally that the pay is awful there so hopefully this makes an impact on that. Does anyone else know what their other main issues are?

    • MysticKetchupOPEnglish
      7·
      15 days ago

      This was in their initial letter:

      Layoff Protections: Employees currently live in fear of suddenly losing their jobs, with no warning and through no fault of their own. We have the opportunity to create strong layoff protections so that we can feel secure in creating long-term careers here at WOTC.

      Remote Work Protections: Leadership is instituting a mandatory RTO, forcing numerous remote employees across the US to work from a physical office or be forced to resign. This painful choice is splitting our employees between their homes, communities, and the jobs they love. Based on company profits, we have demonstrated the ability to meet and exceed our product goals without the in office structure; workers should be able to continue working in the way that is best for them.

      Generative AI Protections: Over the past few years, pressure has ramped up from leadership to adopt LLMs and Gen AI tools in various aspects of our work at WOTC, often over the explicit concerns of impacted employees. WOTC lacks a robust AI policy, leaving opportunities for abuse and communicating a level of disrespect for artists and other creatives. We want to establish clear guidelines around AI, emphasizing worker protections.

      Sustainable Workload: Employees’ experiences with “crunch” (intense, mandatory unpaid overtime) to meet deadlines vary widely by team and project, with some teams crunching on a regular basis just to get planned work out the door. Increasing workload without matching headcount has led to many workers having unacceptable experiences with crunch. We need to take better care of our employees by enacting strong protections around workload expectations.

      Defined Career Progression: Many workers at WOTC feel like they are prevented from advancing in their role, either because opportunities for advancement are sparse or because requirements and opportunities are poorly defined. Employees’ roles should be clearly defined, and they should be able to grow their careers through meaningful raises, role changes, and promotions.

      Our Free Time is Our Own: Currently, if an employee makes anything creative in their free time, with their own resources, Hasbro may claim ownership. What we do in our free time should not be dictated by the company; neither should what we make in our free time be owned by the company.

      We are Stewards of Magic: Our employees and players care about doing the right thing with, and for, the games we make. Short term, profit-driven decisions may be lucrative, but we want to focus on partnerships and products that grow our games sustainably, that inspire us as employees, that excite players, and continue to foster WOTC’s positive reputation.

      All very reasonable demands imo

      • AndrewMAEnglish
        4·
        15 days ago

        Awesome thanks for this. Yeah it’s sad how so many of these should just be basic employment protections.

        I have no special insight but I guarantee the “crunch” pressure from WOTC has to be exploitative. They undoubtedly leverage the fact that you get to work for an awesome game to take advantage of employee pay and work pressure and it’s way past time that ends, especially given how every new set is “the best selling ever.”