Sonic the Hedgehog’s U.S. workers vote to join union
By Rob Golum, Bloomberg
The US home of Sonic the Hedgehog is now a union shop.
Workers at Sega of America say they won an election overseen by the National Labor Relations Board.
With the vote, their affiliate of the Communications Workers of America becomes the largest multidepartment unit of organized employees within the US video-game industry, according to a statement Monday.
The company is part of Sega Sammy Holdings Inc., of Japan, parent of the popular Sonic the Hedgehog game.
According to a CWA spokeswoman, the new labor unit includes 212 workers from Sega of America’s headquarters in Irvine, California, and its Burbank offices, including associates in brand marketing, product development and other departments.
The vote marks the fifth gaming union in the US following workers at Raven Software, Blizzard Albany, ZeniMax and VR/AR game developer Tender Claws, which have all also organized with CWA, the spokeswoman said.
(Updates with details of vote)
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