BioWare support QA workers at Keywords Studios form union
On Monday, quality assurance workers at Keywords Studios’ Edmonton, Canada location announced that they have unanimously voted to form a union. This studio supports BioWare on projects like Mass Effect: Legendary Edition and has worked with other AAA developers like Activision Blizzard and Square Enix.
After counting the votes, the Alberta Labour Board found that all 16 eligible QA workers had voted in favor of forming a KeyWords Studios union. The new union is organized under the United Food and Commercial Workers Canada Union, Local No. 401. They filed their paperwork to organize in April.
“Keywords Studios accept the vote of the 16 Edmonton staff who have chosen to unionize,” the studio said in a post on its website. “We value our people and will continue to constantly strive to be a good employer. As an organization we want to ensure an engaging experience for all of our employees, and we take any concerns that our staff have seriously. We will continue to have an ongoing dialogue with all individuals in the Edmonton team, as we move forward together, always learning and improving.”
A representative of the new union told Polygon that bargaining will begin later this week.
QA workers at Keywords Studios began looking at unionization in March when they were issued a return-to-office order. According to what one organizer told Polygon, this mandate would create hundreds of dollars in commuting expenses for workers who were making minimum wage for the most part. This, combined with a lack of paid days off made the idea of losing the option to work from home one employees weren’t willing to swallow.
“We’re ecstatic,” James, a Keywords Studios QA worker and organizing committee member, told Polygon. “We’re super happy. It will assist us going forward into bargaining that the whole team is completely united on this effort.”
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