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Game Workers Unite

gameworkersunite.org

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Re: Game Workers Unite

#171

Post by pjmlp »

driverdan wrote: post #11
canthonytucci wrote: post #7

Why only game workers? Why not software workers/codewriters in general? I'd prefer something closer to SAG than the auto workers union personally.

Why do "software workers/codewriters" need a union? It's an employee's market.

Not everywhere, in most countries it is an employeers market that get to vet who they are willing to take, regardless how much in need they might be.

At least in Europe most countries do have support for developers on their unions. It is up to each one to decide which one they want to join.

Re: Game Workers Unite

#172

Post by jpttsn »

rbobby wrote: post #102
tvanantwerp wrote: post #91

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Depending on your industry/employer, yes, you can be forced to join a union, or at least pay dues to it even if you're not a member.

There's a case in front the US supreme court on this now. Basically union dues are currently split between an administrative category and a political category (my terms, can't recall what they're actually called). Administrative covers the costs arising from actual contract negotiation and enforcement. Political covers anything dealing with lobbying or advertising etc (eg. vote Bill Murray because he supports unions)…

I see where you’re coming from with the “screw loose” comment, but think you skip past a very real desire for self governance:

A “startup” that drone-feeds pigeons in the park could make the case that I enjoy the benefits of well-fed pigeons, and that I should be prepared to pay.

As great as pigeons are, I might feel diminished by the startup’s posture, which betrays low esteem for my ability to allocate my resources.

Re: Game Workers Unite

#174

Post by jpttsn »

door3 wrote: post #71
briandear wrote: post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why would I want my salary to be the same as everyone else? If I am better than the next person and I am a better negotiator, why should my salary be identical to the lazy fuck that has the same number of years of experience? The mistake of these Marxist organizations is that they assume that workers are interchangeable parts. Maybe on an assembly line that is true, but engineering software or hardware or designing t…

> Why would I want my salary to be the same as everyone else? If I am better than the next person and I am a better negotiator, why should my salary be identical to the lazy fuck that has the same number of years of experience? Why do you have disdain for other workers, who largely share your economic and political interests?

The same would be asked of someone about their skin color, by those who think skin colored collectives are units of economics and policy.

Re: Game Workers Unite

#176

Post by dignan »

gnarbarian wrote: post #144
sangnoir wrote: post #143

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> For decades gaming has been the programmer equivalent of the waiter-actor/waitress-actress in Hollywood trying for their big break The game industry is not made up entirely of programmers! There are lots of other roles that do not map to the software industry such as animators, modelers and artists. They can't just switch to making enterprise CRUD apps. Even the programmers might have difficulty meeting the require…

And again I will claim that: "you also have the skills to work in another software industry that will compensate you appropriately" If you are capable of learning how to use the apps necessary to be a animator/modeler you DO have the skills to work in another industry! Nobody is entitled to work whatever job they want wherever they want, and nobody forced you to take out loans to get a degree in Art/3d modelling or a…

The NBA players have a union https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Basketball_Players_...

Re: Game Workers Unite

#177

Post by parmesan »

petee wrote: post #107

One of my relatives works for a large well known game developer; same employer for years. Because they decide to classify many of their devs as contract workers, they are denied rights afforded to 'full-time' employees - when she is laid off for months at a time (to prevent being called a full-time) she can't collect unemployment. No health care, no benefits whatsoever. And due to contracts, can't work for a rival ei…

You should advice your relative to just get another job, dunno why anyone would bother working under such conditions.

Re: Game Workers Unite

#178

Post by gilrain »

parmesan wrote: post #177
petee wrote: post #107

One of my relatives works for a large well known game developer; same employer for years. Because they decide to classify many of their devs as contract workers, they are denied rights afforded to 'full-time' employees - when she is laid off for months at a time (to prevent being called a full-time) she can't collect unemployment. No health care, no benefits whatsoever. And due to contracts, can't work for a rival ei…

You should advice your relative to just get another job, dunno why anyone would bother working under such conditions.

"scared that they'll simply be replaced by those who won't complain, and blacklisted"

Re: Game Workers Unite

#179

Post by vinceguidry »

jpttsn wrote: post #172
rbobby wrote: post #102

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There's a case in front the US supreme court on this now. Basically union dues are currently split between an administrative category and a political category (my terms, can't recall what they're actually called). Administrative covers the costs arising from actual contract negotiation and enforcement. Political covers anything dealing with lobbying or advertising etc (eg. vote Bill Murray because he supports unions)…

I see where you’re coming from with the “screw loose” comment, but think you skip past a very real desire for self governance: A “startup” that drone-feeds pigeons in the park could make the case that I enjoy the benefits of well-fed pigeons, and that I should be prepared to pay. As great as pigeons are, I might feel diminished by the startup’s posture, which betrays low esteem for my ability to allocate my resources…

Governance fits into the space where people don't want to self-manage. The average neighborhood doesn't want to bother spending the time or effort to vet possible service providers, let alone a pigeon feeder. They're paying dues precisely for the privilege of letting other people decide.

They don't always agree, but that's what the monthly meetings are for. Eventually everyone agrees on the scope of governance.

Re: Game Workers Unite

#180

Post by SeanBoocock »

I've been working in game development as a software engineer for going on seven years and am happy to see this initiative. Unions nothwithstanding there is plenty of variation in the working conditions throughout the industry. The best empirical reflection of that is the annual IGDA surveys: https://c.ymcdn.com/sites/www.igda.org/resource/resmgr/2017_....

If you find yourself at a studio with poor working conditions, know that there are plenty of studios that better respect you and your time. Hopefully unionization, or at least the threat of it, will raise the floor on the conditions and compensation for the employees most often exploited: contractors generally and QA specifically.

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