Industry-wide union United Videogame Workers-CWA (UVW-CWA) has welcomed over 100 new members into its ranks within hours of breaking cover at GDC 2025.
Union organizer KB shared the milestone during a labor panel at the conference, prompting a cacophony of applause from attendees.
UVW-CWA was established by industry workers across the United States and Canada to “build worker power irrespective of studio and current job status.”
As a direct-join (or pre-majority) union, UVW-CWA enables workers—including freelancers and those who have been laid off—to organize without encountering hurdles that employers might lay down during the traditional union certification progress.
KB underlined the importance of allowing those impacted by layoffs to unionize by asking attendees at the panel to raise their hands if they have personally been laid off or know someone who has. Almost everyone in the packed-out room obliged.
“UVW is a home for all of those people laid off,” said KB. “The barrier to entry is very low. You pay your dues and you’re in the union. This is for all of us.”
The idea behind direct-join organizing, then, is to blow the doors open on unionization and usher in positive change across the industry at large.
“We go in harmony with those certified unions,” added KB. “What those bargaining units have won for themselves, we want to share that with the entire industry. By joining UVW you get to join that network of expertise.”
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It’s a sentiment echoed by CWA president Claude Cummings, who earlier today described the formation of UVW-CWA as an “exciting next step in our union’s work to help video game workers build power in their industry.”
“As video game studios have consolidated, the workers whose creativity, dedication, and skill bring the games to life have become more an afterthought,” he added. “They are subject to endless cycles of layoffs and rehiring as corporate executives pursue short-term profits at the expense of a sustainable future.”
Those interested can learn more about UVW-CWA, including how to apply, on the CWA website.