The Gaming Workers' Union is taking the fight to Xbox this week, with in-person protests scheduled to take place in six locations. These protests will be part of the 'Save Our Devs' march, with protests planned outside several Xbox-owned studios.
This is being organized by the Communication Workers of America (CWA), a labor union representing gaming workers. The union said the layoffs at ZeniMax and Bethesda alone have put more than 400 of its members out of work, and that number could rise with more layoffs scheduled later this year.
Rally held outside Xbox-owned studio on July 15th
The union said, “The company wants to accept this as a done deal and disappear quietly. We will not allow that to happen. The next step is mobilization.” “We need to show management right now that we are serious so they will take good care of their fellow colleagues today and think twice before trying something like this again.
“Stay strong and look out for each other. I look forward to seeing all of us marching together on the 15th.”
The meeting locations are as follows:
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ZeniMax in Austin, Texas, USA
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ZeniMax in Rockville, Maryland, USA
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id Software, Dallas, Texas, USA
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Microsoft located in Redmond, Washington, USA
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Obsidian, Irvine, California, USA
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Victoria Square, Montreal, Canada
Layoffs have already devastated many studios (id Software reportedly lost up to 75% of its workforce), but now the union will focus on preventing something like this from happening again. CWA said its members are fighting for “mandatory layoff protections,” which could appear to force Microsoft to negotiate with teams before layoffs begin, giving the company more say in who goes and trying to protect as many jobs as possible.
Microsoft will do that right now with Arkane, which is based in France and therefore has better protection than its US counterpart. It is unclear what the outcome of this mandatory consultation period will be, but at least it will give workers more time to fight for their jobs or prepare for the next steps.
- Establishment date
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April 4, 1975
- CEO
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Satya Nadella
- headquarters
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Redmond, Washington, USA
