CODE-CWA

The Campaign to Organize Digital Employees or CODE-CWA is a project launched by the Communications Workers of America to unionize tech and video game workers in January 2020.[1] It sprung out of conversations with Game Workers Unite (GWU) and employed at least two full time staff, including GWU co-founder Emma Kinema and veteran SEIU organizer Wes McEnany.[1] In 2022, Jessica Gonzalez joined, a former Activision Blizzard QA tester.[2][3]

CODE-CWA
Campaign to Organize Digital Employees
Founded2020
Key people
Emma Kinema
AffiliationsCommunications Workers of America
Websitecode-cwa.org

CODE-CWA campaigns have been launched at a range of workplaces such as major multinational tech companies, small startups, video game studios, media companies, AAA game publishers, worker co-operatives, and table-top game companies.[4] As of August 2022, CODE-CWA has organized over 3000 union members in various sub-industries of the tech sector across over 25 bargaining units in the last two years of organizing. [5]

Campaigns
CODE-CWA Campaigns by Company
Company Unit Name Founded Union Status Campaign Description
Glitch n/a March 2020 Dissolved Glitch staff announced intentions to unionize with the CWA Local No. 1101 as part of CODE-CWA in early 2020. The company voluntarily recognized their union. Around the same time, the company laid off a third of its staff of 50 during the COVID-19 pandemic.[6][7] Glitch signed a collective bargaining agreement in March 2021, the first in the American tech industry.[8] The union dissolved prior to the company's acquisition by Fastly in 2022.[9]
Voltage Entertainment August 2020 n/a In August 2020, CODE-CWA organized the first successful strike of 21 contract script writers in the game industry at Voltage Entertainment, which lasted for 21 days and resulted in pay increases and improved transparency.[10]
Blue State Digital Blue State Union October 2020 In Collective Bargaining In October 2020, Blue State Digital also voted to form a union with CWA Local No. 1101.[11]
Alphabet Alphabet Workers Union January 2021 Active On January 4, 2021, over 400 employees (out of 130,000) of Alphabet (parent company of Google) formed the Alphabet Workers Union (CWA Local No. 1400) with a rare solidarity union model, which is not registered with the National Labor Relations Board, and thus cannot engage in collective bargaining.[12] Alphabet Workers Union is notably open to non Alphabet employees, including Temporary, Vendor, and Contract workers, who make up almost half of the workforce.[13][14] A group of 11 subcontractor workers on Google Fiber voted to unionize in March 2022.[15] A group of 49 subcontractor workers on YouTube Music voted to unionize in April 2023. [16]
Medium Medium Workers Union February 2021 Not Certified Medium Workers Union announced their intent to form a trade union with CODE-CWA at the company Medium in February 2021.[17] According to MWU, 70% of the eligible employees have signed union authorization cards, representing workers in editorial, engineering, design and product departments.[17] On February 11, the workers asked management for voluntary recognition of their union.[18] Medium workers held an online vote for recognition by management, which fell one vote short of the majority threshold required by their agreed terms. In March 2021, organizers stated that they would not pursue a National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) election in the near future.[19]
Mobilize Mobilize Union March 2021 In Collective Bargaining On March 15, 2021, it was announced that tech workers at community-organizing app company Mobilize had certified a union as a part of the CODE-CWA effort.[20]
NPR Digital Media United April 2021 In Collective Bargaining On April 26, 2021, workers in NPR's Digital Media Division announced they had formed a union with NABET-CWA Local 31 as a part of the CODE-CWA organizing project and requested voluntary recognition of their union from NPR management. Digital Media United NABET-CWA, the newly formed constituent of CODE-CWA, includes a wide range of tech related disciplines including engineering, design, content operations, online support, and product management workers.[21] On April 28, 2021, Digital Media United NABET-CWA announced that NPR management chose to voluntarily recognize their union.
New York Times New York Times Tech Guild April 2021 Certified On April 13, 2021, more than 650 tech workers at the New York Times announced that they were unionizing with the NewsGuild-CWA.[22][23] In July 2021 the workers filed for union certification with the National Labor Relations Board.[24] On August 11, 2021, the New York Times Tech Guild held a half-day work stoppage in protest of alleged union-busting tactics from the New York Times management for which the Guild filed at least three unfair labor practices charges with the NLRB.[25] On March 3, 2022, the workers voted for their union, where it will be the largest union representing tech workers with collective bargaining rights in the country.[26][27]
Mapbox Mapbox Workers Union June 2021 Not Certified On June 15, 2021, workers at Mapbox announced that a super-majority of the over 200 workers for the company, both tech and non-tech, had signed union authorization cards to be represented by CODE-CWA.[28][29]
Catalist Catalist Union June 2021 In Collective Bargaining In June 2021, 30 workers at Catalist announced that a super majority of workers had signed union authorization cards to be represented by the Communications Workers of America through CODE-CWA, and that Catalist had voluntarily recognized the workers' union.[30] They did not unionize to improve working conditions, but because workers felt that since the company does work for the labor movement, its employees should be unionized.[30]
Change.Org Solidarity @ Change June 2021 In Collective Bargaining On June 30, 2021, it was announced that 70 workers at Change.Org had received voluntary recognition of their union and will be represented by CODE-CWA for collective bargaining.[31] To date, Change.org is the largest tech company to voluntarily recognize a union as the representative of its staff. About half the staff are based in the US and half in Canada.
EveryAction EveryAction Workers Union September 2021 In Collective Bargaining On September 3, 2021, CODE-CWA announced that 240 workers at EveryAction had received voluntary recognition of their union and would be represented by CODE-CWA after a super majority of employees signed union authorization cards expressing support for unionizing.[32] EveryAction Workers Union, the newly formed constituent of CODE-CWA, became the "largest progressive tech union with majority traditional tech workers in the United States." EveryAction also surpassed Change.org in becoming the largest tech company to voluntarily recognize a union.
Activision Blizzard ABK Workers Alliance September 2021 Active, signing authorization cards The Communication Workers of America filed an Unfair Labor Practice charge with the NLRB on September 14 alleging that Activision Blizzard, a prominent videogame development company, had engaged in unlawful intimidation and interrogation of workers organizing with the union.[33] The NLRB complaint follows shortly after a lawsuit initiated by the state of California against Activision Blizzard alleged that there was a culture of unlawful sex-based harassment and discrimination against women within the company.[34]

On December 6, 2021 12 Quality Assurance workers at Raven Software, an Activision Blizzard owned studio, were laid off. Thereafter, workers at Raven and Activision Blizzard launched a third strike at the company, and the first strike to stretch multiple days.[35] On the 9th ABK workers launched a strike fund on GoFundMe seeking to raise $1,000,000.[36]

Also on December 9, 2021, it was revealed that workers at Activision Blizzard had begun signing union authorization cards.[37]

Paizo United Paizo Workers October 2021 In Collective Bargaining On October 14, 2021, workers at Paizo, the table-top game company behind Pathfinder and Starfinder, announced they had requested union voluntary recognition from management under the name "United Paizo Workers" with CODE-CWA following months of conflict where Paizo staff, freelancers, and fans protested poor working conditions at the company.[38] On October 22, 2021, following pressure on the company from workers, fans, and allegedly a strike among Paizo freelancers it was announced that Paizo management chose to voluntarily recognize the workers' union and have since moved into the process of collective bargaining, becoming the first known certified union of table-top game workers with collective bargaining rights.[39][40]
Vodeo Games Vodeo Workers United December 2021 Dissolved In December 2021, workers at indie game developer Vodeo Games announced they won voluntary recognition of their union, becoming the first certified union of video game workers in North America.[41] Their unit is made up of workers in the US and Canada and it includes all job types, full-time employees, and contract workers.[42] The studio had been in collective bargaining when it shut down in September 2022.[43]
Raven Software Game Workers Alliance January 2022 Certified Following strikes prompted by a layoff of Quality Assurance employees, on January 21, 2022, workers at Raven Software announced that they were forming a union. The 34 worker unit made up of QA workers requested voluntary recognition of their union from Activision-Blizzard.[44] On May 23, workers at Raven Software voted 19-3 in favor of being represented by CWA.[45]
Apple Inc. Apple Retail Union October 2022 Signing authorization cards and requesting card check. CODE is involved in organizing in Georgia,[46] Oklahoma,[47] Kentucky,[48] and New York.[49]
Blizzard Albany (formerly Vicarious Visions) Game Workers Alliance Albany July 2022 Certified Following the successful unionization of Quality Assurance workers at Blizzard Albany (formerly Vicarious Visions), filed for a union election with the NLRB.[50] On December 2, 2022, it was announced that the workers had unanimously won their union election.[51]
Tender Claws Tender Claws Human Union July 2022 Received voluntary recognition On July 22, 2022, the 13 employees of Tender Claws announced via twitter that they had formed a union with unanimous support from all workers, and that their employer would be granting voluntary recognition of their union.[52] Subsequently on August 1, the workers announced that their management signed the voluntary recognition agreement.[53]
ZeniMax ZeniMax Workers United December 2022 Requested card check On December 5, 2022, a supermajority of workers in a unit of more than 300 QA testers across ZeniMax announced they had organized a union with CWA and were seeking certification from their employer. ZeniMax, as a subsidiary of Microsoft, is operating under a neutrality agreement negotiated between Microsoft and CWA.[54]
Sega of America Allied Employees Guild Improving SEGA April 2023 Awaiting Certification On April 24, 2023, 144 employees of Sega of America filed for a union election.[55][56] The union election took place on June 16, 2023.[57] On July 10, 2023, it was announced that workers voted 91-26 to form a union at Sega of America.[58]

See also

References
  1. Dean, Sam (January 7, 2020). "Major union launches campaign to organize video game and tech workers". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved January 5, 2021.
  2. Francis, Bryant (July 22, 2022). "Devs protest Activision Blizzard's response to abortion rights crisis". [[Game Developer (website)|]]. Retrieved December 25, 2022.
  3. Klar, Rebecca (July 18, 2022). "Changing the game in gaming". [[The Hill (newspaper)|]]. Retrieved December 25, 2022.
  4. "Campaign to Organize Digital Employees (CODE-CWA)". Organizing Campaigns. November 25, 2019. Retrieved November 11, 2021.
  5. "Not Playing Around: QA Testers at Blizzard Albany Organize with CODE-CWA". Strikewave. September 2022. Retrieved September 1, 2022.
  6. Kastrenakes, Jacob (May 22, 2020). "Glitch lays off 'substantial number of employees' to cut costs". The Verge. Retrieved May 26, 2020.
  7. Heater, Brian (March 13, 2020). "Online code collaboration tool Glitch votes to unionize". Tech Crunch. Retrieved December 23, 2020.
  8. Schiffer, Zoe (March 2, 2021). "Glitch workers sign tech's first collective bargaining agreement". The Verge. Retrieved March 21, 2021.
  9. Kastrenakes, Jacob (May 19, 2022). "Glitch acquired by cloud service provider Fastly". The Verge. Retrieved November 12, 2022.
  10. Carpenter, Nicole (August 11, 2020). "These game writers made history by going on strike — and winning". Polygon. Retrieved December 22, 2021.
  11. Miller, Sean (October 21, 2020). "Employees At Democratic Firm Blue State Unionized By CODE-CWA". Campaigns and Elections. Archived from the original on July 27, 2021. Retrieved December 31, 2020.
  12. Marshall, Aarian (January 12, 2021). "Google's New Union Is Already Addressing Political Issues". Wired. ISSN 1059-1028. The AWU is somewhat unusual in that it is affiliated with the Communications Workers of America but won't seek recognition or collective bargaining rights through the National Labor Relations Board. "We will use our reclaimed power to control what we work on and how it is used," AWU writes in its mission statement. "We will ensure Alphabet acts ethically and in the best interests of society and the environment." The group says it now has more than 700 dues-paying members. But that's still a tiny percentage of Alphabet's 130,000 employees—and an even smaller share of the company's total workforce, including temporary workers, contractors, and vendors. The union is unusual in another respect, because it welcomes contractors and temporary workers.
  13. Conger, Kate (January 4, 2021). "Hundreds of Google Employees Unionize, Culminating Years of Activism". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved January 5, 2021.
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  15. Lyons, Kim (March 25, 2022). "Google Fiber contractors vote to join union". The Verge. Retrieved September 10, 2023.
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  21. We Build NPR [@WeBuildNPR] (April 26, 2021). "We, the rank and file employees of NPR's Digital Media Division (Content Operations, Design, Engineering, Online Support, and Product Management), are proud to announce we are joining our broadcast colleagues in NABET-CWA Local 31" (Tweet). Retrieved February 18, 2023 – via Twitter.
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  32. "Workers at EveryAction Become Largest Progressive Tech Union". Communication Workers of America. September 3, 2021. Archived from the original on September 3, 2021. Retrieved September 6, 2021.
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  53. Tender Claws Human Union [@tchumanunion] (August 1, 2022). "Update: @TenderClaws management has signed our voluntary recognition agreement, making TC the 4th video game company in North America with a recognized union! 🎉 This huge step forward clears the way for us to bargain a strong, fair union contract ✊🦀" (Tweet). Retrieved August 1, 2022 – via Twitter.
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  56. "Organizing Update" (Press release). Communication Workers of America. April 27, 2023.
  57. @takesAEGIS (May 19, 2023). "It's been 4 weeks since we launched and we are happy to announce that WE HAVE OUR ELECTION DATE! ✊ On June 16, 200+ workers from across Sega of America's Irvine AND Burbank offices will begin the mail-in election process. #UnionizeSEGA" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
  58. Carpenter, Nicole (July 10, 2023). "Sega of America workers win union vote". Polygon. Vox Media.
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