Sega of America is “examining and considering available options” after efforts to unionize employees -By Fsk

Sega of America is currently “examining and considering available options” to the company, following news earlier this week that the “vast majority” of its employees were planning to unionize.

As Matt reported on Monday, this union — which calls itself the Allied Employees Guild Improving SEGA, or AEGIS-CWA for short — aims to secure a higher base wage, better benefits and a number of other goals.

In response, Sega of America President and COO Ian Curran wrote a letter to all employees addressing the formation of AEGIS.

In this letter, Sega execs assured workers that “no [Sega of America] Employees will be treated differently regardless of whether they support unionization or not. Curran lauded the “wonderful culture” at Sega of America, while adding that the company is now investigating the options available to it. “Union matters are new to him. Me,” Curran wrote.

You can read the letter from Quran in full below (thanks, Destructoid):

“We learned yesterday that a petition has been filed with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) by various SOA employees seeking union representation. Union matters are new to me and SOA and we are investigating and the company As I understand it, the filing of the petition means that the NLRB will conduct a secret ballot election several weeks later for employees who are in a specific job classification to be determined by the NLRB. These workers would vote for or against union representation.

“Some of you may support unionization and some may not. That is your legal right. No SOA employee will be treated differently whether they do or do not support unionization. In my view, this SOA Employee culture is what makes us such a successful company.

“We will keep you updated regularly so that you are fully informed, understand what you can expect and the NLRB process. If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to reach out to Human Resources. We will be happy to assist you.” All the questions want answered.”

Shortly after Curran’s letter was sent to all employees, Farrah N. Khan (who is mayor of Irvine, where Sega of America is located) voiced Sega of America’s support of the AEGIS-CWA. In his letter, Khan asked that the company “voluntarily” recognize the union.

AEGIS’ unionization bid follows successful unionization efforts by Microsoft’s ZeniMax Studios, Activision Blizzard’s Raven Software, and Blizzard Albany. Employees at Activision-owned Proletar Studios were forced to abandon plans to form a union in January after alleged “confrontational tactics” by the developer’s CEO.