Staff at CD Projekt Red are uniting with others in the Polish video game industry to unionise. The union was formed aft…

  • tha_frontline@feddit.de
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    1 year ago

    I don’t know how unions work in Poland, but here in Germany you should organize, when there are lay offs in your company.

    Unions can bargain better conditions for the lay offs like higher gratuities (is there something like this on the states?) or create a point system, who gets laid off first (based on family status, age, the likelihood of finding another job…).

    So: unions always make sense :)

    • aSingularFemboyHooter@sh.itjust.works
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      1 year ago

      Man am I tired of being shafted for not having kids, the when it comes to holidays, covering for other staff and things, employees with kids always take priority and employees without don’t have an ‘excuse’. Extending that to layoffs is extremely toxic and punitive to younger workers.

      • tha_frontline@feddit.de
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        1 year ago

        I don’t have kids either, but to me it’s logical, that that this has to be taken to account. I mean, those are people who are dependent on the situation, it’s not like they could do anything on their own. I’m happy, that at least this is something, where humanity comes into play. And again: I don’t have children and I don’t want them in the future.

        And like I said, there are also other points, like age, or how long the people are working for the company.

        What would be your points, to decide if someone has to be fired? And no, firing no one at all is not an option in this scenario ;)

    • restingboredface@sh.itjust.works
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      1 year ago

      (based on family status)

      I’m all for unions, but identifying layoff targets based on these things seems like a sure way for the system to get abused. Single people and people without kids get stuck filling in for people with families already-taking layoffs for them is asking a lot.

      Definitely agree on the spirit of your comment though- unionizing is pretty much always a good idea.

  • tal@lemmy.today
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    1 year ago

    If their main concern is layoffs – which it sounds like, at least from the article text, though I don’t know if that’s just the author’s take or not – I doubt that the union is going to have much leverage. CDPR isn’t laying people off for fun; the whole industry is seeing a major decline in investment at the moment.

    https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2023-10-05/video-games-post-covid-hangover-triggers-exodus-by-vc-investors

    https://archive.ph/oMrpq

    Video Game VC Funding Slumps as Publishers Battle Covid Hangover

    • Funding opportunities dry up with game companies cutting jobs
    • Total peaked when people were still indoors because of Covid

    VC groups invested $700.3 million in gaming in the third quarter, the lowest total since the second quarter of 2020, according to data from PitchBook. The industry attracted more than $2 billion in every quarter for two years ending in mid-2022.

    The past few weeks have been marked by layoffs and studio closures by game companies. Epic cut 830 jobs, while Sony Group Corp.’s Naughty Dog and Worms maker Team17 have also let go dozens of workers.

    The Swedish video-game holding company Embracer Group AB, which bought up dozens of gaming companies starting in 2020, is now canceling games, eliminating jobs and closing studios. The company is looking to sell Borderlands developer Gearbox Entertainment.

    https://www.cgmagonline.com/news/cd-projekt-red-layoffs-will-amount-to-100/

    Since the beginning of 2023, there has been an abundance of layoffs that have hit the tech and gaming industry like a storm. Disney, Take Two, Unity, Twitter (now ‘X’) and even Microsoft have faced massive layoffs since January, and CD PROJEKT RED is the latest to follow this unfortunate and growing trend.