Developers of Disco Elysium have formed a union, but not everyone has joined
Employees of the British branch of ZA/UM have formed a union called the ZA/UM Workers’ Alliance. This is the first officially recognized such union in a game studio in the country.
Disco Elysium
The ZA/UM Workers’ Alliance will operate under the aegis of the larger union, The Independent Workers Union of Great Britain (IWGB).
In a conversation with GamesIndustry, the developers shared that they decided to form a union a year and a half ago when ZA/UM laid off about a quarter of the entire studio staff. Now they hope they can influence management decisions and protect themselves from similar situations.
The leaders of ZA/UM have already agreed to cooperate with the union and negotiate on certain staffing issues.
It is important to note that the ZA/UM Workers’ Alliance operates only in the UK. There are no unions in the Estonian or Portuguese branches of ZA/UM. Formally, their employees can participate in the meetings of their British colleagues, but without any guarantee of protection of their interests.