What are your thoughts on unions in gaming? There’s been more talk recently at riot regarding all the stuff going on at our company. There’s been more and more gaming company issues around sexual harassment or workplace abuse — what do you think? Will it happen? Are unions good or bad?
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Unions are for low skilled work, if I’m not happy at my current place and I have marketable skill set I’ll go somewhere else. But I suck at leetcode that’s another problem...
Designers and artists are low skilled?
No but that’s more of a purely economics problem, high supply of people low demand of positions. Essentially one in the same.
I don't see any upside to a union. We have a hard enough time getting rid of under performers as is
Against, and really wish the push for these would just go away already. The approach (pushing “us vs them” and painting leadership as villains narrative) is really toxic, disruptive and needs to stop.
If pay and benefits were as good as the rest of tech, there would be no push.
If leadership stopped acting as villains then perhaps the narrative would change. When it comes down to it though, any employee is just a cog in the machine. They'll buy a new cog and slot it in without thinking about it for a second.
> No one wants sexual harassment, why would this be a worker vs management issue? It’s a power hierarchy. Corporations are a top down petty dictatorship, where ultimately the corporate board get to call the shots. A worker is essentially unable to harass a manager because the manager has the power (vested in them from above) to fire them. A manager on the other hand can often use that power to get away with sexual harassment. That dynamic only flows one way, how could this be anything BUT a workers vs management issue?
Sure, boards rarely have to exercise their power, but that’s because CEOs are shareholders and share their interests. That’s still the ultimate, push comes to shove legal power though. A manager can fire a worker only because the board has invested authority in the CEO who has then delegated it. The amount of damages that workers can typically expect to win in lawsuits is piddling, check out stats with the EEOC, the employer wins overwhelmingly and usually damages are basically “lost wages and get your job back.” The power imbalance is immense.
I’m against unions but if that’s the only way for game developers to be treated and compensated fairly then I’m for it.
Fairly is what the market will bear. Anything else is factually self delusion.
Gamers rise up!
We really live in a society smh
Those of you who are software engineers in gaming don't need to unionize, but you should realize that your skills are more valuable on the open market than most game companies recognize. Historically, gaming companies have underpaid for technical skills, presumably because nerds who love games are willing to work for less money to work in the industry. Though, that's just speculation. One result of that is that the industry pays less as a whole and is able to get away with fewer benefits and/or worse treatment of employees.
For unions in general. Unfortunately Game Workers Unite is a Marxist political slacktivism org masquerading as a union. For better results, find a union that cares about workers and workers issues more than this garbage.
Like say in gubment...
Lol, that's a good one. Trolling, right? Oh, not trolling? Woooooow... The idea that unions care more about workers than employers is laughable. Nobody cares about the employees and people should just come to terms with that and let go of those 10-ply sensitivities.
I think unions are excellent ways to take the competitive edge away from bleeding edge companies. I hope all my competitors unionize.
If a companies “bleeding edge” is due to exploitation of the working class, fuck them. Fuck you too.
Hmm if google is exploiting working class then I hope we spread this form of exploitation everywhere.