Skip to content
James Russwurm hopes his team will be one of many unionizing in the video game industry.
Russwurm works in quality assessment for Ireland-based Keywords Studios. His team works in Edmonton and does commissioned work for video game giant BioWare, makers of blockbuster franchises mass effect and dragon time.
He and his 15 colleagues in Edmonton voted unanimously to join the United Food and Commercial Workers Local 401. Their union will be the first for the gaming industry in Canada and only the third in North America.
In a statement on its website, Keywords Studios said it accepts the results of the vote and “will continue to constantly strive to be a good place to work”.
Sootworm spoke to me How it happens Guest presenter Tom Harrington on the win. Here’s part of their conversation.
Why did you and your colleagues decide it was time for a union at Keywords Studios?
Most of our entry-level employees start out at Alberta’s minimum wage, which is about $15 an hour.
With the rising cost of rent and groceries and gas and everything We’ve had many members who have been pushed to the wall and said, “I can’t afford to work here anymore, or if I want to.”
We also had to go back to the office five days a week. So with the cost of parking downtown and the petrol prices and all, it would just become uninhabitable for many of our members.
We didn’t want to give up our positions because working in the video game industry is a very passionate industry, more like television or even radio where it can be quite difficult to break into this sector. And since we were pushed out of it just because we weren’t being paid enough, we felt that maybe if we organized we could try to get a little fairer with our employer.
We are not against overtime or overtime. We just want to make sure we’re being paid fairly and not being taken advantage of.– James Russwurm, quality judge for video games
Then give me an idea of the hours you are dealing with on deadlines… What hours are you expected to have and what is the pressure under those conditions?
Crunch culture is a real thing in the video game industry. For those who don’t know, it’s the idea that if you hit those deadlines or hit the end of the project, there’s a day when this game has to hit the market. And it’s been set up with advertisers and retailers, and the work needs to be done.
That’s how you end up with what’s called crunch, where you’re really forced into relentless overtime until the minute the game goes out the door — and sometimes weeks after that if you keep supporting it after it’s gone .
We are not against overtime or overtime. We just want to make sure we’re being paid fairly and not being taken advantage of.
And were you paid adequately until you became a union?
My personal opinion is that we are not paid fairly for our roles.
Suppose you worked at another studio and weren’t a contractor like us. You’d probably work in a similar role, but you start closer to $26 an hour. So we are paid well below the industry average, even locally.
When you first started campaigning for the union, how did your colleagues initially react?
We actually found that most of the team was very receptive to the idea.
Union organizing has been a topic of discussion in the gaming industry for some time. And with Raven Studios in the United States are also taking off with their union efforts, it was more on the minds of the team than I originally thought. And we were able to garner a lot of support very quickly just by having the conversation in the first place.
They were part of the driving forces behind the creation of this union. What do you think is your future? Do you think the company will take action against you?
I personally don’t know. I felt like it was the least I could do to get the ball rolling. I see my colleagues, many of whom are some of the smartest people I’ve had the pleasure of working with. And I really couldn’t just go back to work and watch them being really taken advantage of anymore.
So for me it was more [that] I want them to be treated fairly and equitably by the company…then I’m bound to worry about my long-term prospects in the industry.
And I hope that… this can show other other studios that they can get out there and unionize as well.
That’s a win for you, but there are 16 employees. There are tens of thousands in the video game industry working there. What effect can something like this have on the industry?
We really hope that we can lead by example and show that there is really nothing to fear when it comes to union organising.
On the other hand, we were able to get away with a good vote that we think we’ll be able to get a good contract.
We really just want to continue supporting anyone who wants to organize in any capacity that we can.
Written by Sheena Goodyear. Interview produced by Chris Harbord. Questions and answers have been edited for length and clarity.