While the internet has recently seen an influx of words about mass layoffs among video game companies, game developers within Poland are banding together to protect themselves from the uncertainties of the industry.
Under the Polish Gamedev Workers Union (PGWU), workers from various Polish studios, including CD Projekt Red, are now a collective unit that serves the interests of each of its members.
Specifically, PGWU is described as a “trade union connecting all professions and people working in the game development sector in Poland”.
Known in the Polish language as “OZZ Inicjatywa Pracownicza (OZZ IP),” the grassroots, self-governing trade union credits its foundation to the workers of Cegielski in Poznan and local tenant movements.
It also started as a company commission at CD Projekt, which advocates the voicing of workers’ concerns concerning work safety and conditions.
On the PGWU website, it reads:
We joined forces with people from other companies to represent all Polish gamedev workers and improve the employment conditions in the whole industry.
For this to happen, we need to encourage gamedev workers to act.
With a seven-point manifesto, PGWU laid out the group’s demands, underscoring its desire to organize and represent a wide spectrum of game developers across all disciplines and professions.
In its pledge to maintain its democratic structure, PGWU is empowering its members to become an active part of policy-making as well as raising the need for a “stable, fair, diverse, and healthy environment”.
With prospective members in sight, PGWU is encouraging non-members to join the group, with the only requirement that they are Polish developers.
