The Game Workers Unite (GWU) branch of the Independent Workers’ Union of Great Britain (IWGB) is holding an all-hands open to every developer in the UK. On Thursday October 12, the union’s Zoom meeting can be attended by current and non-union members and specifically concerns developer layoffs in the region.
Within the last several months, developers across the world have been affected by layoffs and redundancies. The UK is one of the largest hubs for jobs in the industry, and reductions have recently hit UK studios Creative Assembly, Ubisoft London, and Team17.
On its website, the GWU noted “in the past week, several large companies have announced redundancies that affect 500+ people in the UK games industry.”
GWU first joined the IWGB in late 2018, and is the first (and only) UK union for the game industry. Like other unions, its larger aim is to end crunch, secure a steady living wage, promote diversity and inclusion at all levels, and support developers on the receiving end of toxic behavior.
At the same time, unionization efforts has taken different shapes across different countries in recent years. The act of collective organization is steadily growing, as seen by the recent union efforts at Avalanche Software and Workinman Interactive.
“[We’re] hosting an open meeting for the whole UK Games Industry to discuss how we can support the workers who are affected and how we can work to prevent redundancies on this scale in the future,” GWU continued. “If you wanted to help but didn’t know how, this is the meeting for you.”
Signups for the IWGB meeting on Thursday, October 12 are being done here.