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CD Projekt Red devs are forming a Polish games industry union after a wave of layoffs earlier this year (www.vg247.com)

submitted 1 year ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

14 comments fedilink hide all child comments

From the article:

In an FAQ on the union's website, it's explained that discussions of a union began after the layoffs at CD Projekt, which amounted to roughly 100 people. "This event created a tremendous amount of stress and insecurity, affecting our mental health and leading to the creation of this union in response," reads the FAQ. "Having a union means having more security, transparency, better protection, and a stronger voice in times of crisis.

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[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 year ago (2 children)

One issue is that unions have failed to globalize while industries have. CDPR could simply chose to bypass the union by opening a dev studio in a country with no or less union presence.

Given the recent wave of layoffs in the game industry, they'll have no shortage finding capable people.

[–] [email protected] 21 points 1 year ago (2 children)

i don't buy into this defeatist attitude at all I'm sorry.

to do that without working with the unions in good faith, they would have to lay everyone off then meander for a few years rebuilding somewhere else. it's not a quick process. and then probably release something of even lower quality than their recent releases.

the only way to do what you are saying is to work with the unions for the current projects and work to build non union studios for future projects. which unions would probably fight.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

I'm not trying to be defeatist. I'm just advocating for unions to stop focusing on the local aspect. Transnational cooperation is what is needed in unions today.

Something which larger unions, such as the steel and car industry unions in Europe have been trying (and mostly failing) to do for almost two decades.

Companies, by and large, have used the globalized economy to sidestep local action for almost 30 years now.

Ignoring this is simply a recepy for repeating the mistakes of the past. Especially in software, where there is no physical production equipment at all, and in games, where talent and labour is plentiful.

Unless you have an organization that reaches as far as the companies you're trying to bring to the table, you will simply be outmanœuvred.

You also overestimate the level of union participation if you think they would need to lay off everyone to break a union strike.

Feel free to tell me I'm wrong, but I've been through the proces twice, both involving union action, both in the software industry. Once as part of the workers delegation to the negotiating table. Dismiss a company's ruthlessness or resourcefulness at your own peril.

Local unions can only hope to hold off the axe until current projects where the required know how can not be rebuilt or transfered in time are done.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 year ago

Devs are not as easy to replace as factory workers, EU and US/CA software talent is top tier. I'd imagine even factory workers aren't so easy to replace these days.