Game Workers Australia, formerly known as Game Workers Unite, will become the country’s first union for games industry professionals. The organization will officially re-launch on May 1, 2022.
Game Workers Australia (GWA) currently has 360 members, according to The Sydney Morning Herald report. This number represents between a quarter and a fifth of Australia’s games industry, which had 1327 people last year.
“The video game industry is wildly profitable,” Game Workers Unite co-secretary Tim Colwill said. “And workers are increasingly seeing worse and worse conditions with less and less job security.”
GWA will be working on creating the Australian industry’s first enterprise agreement and raising freelancer wages. The organization will also offer its members legal representation and other services, trying to protect workers and improve their conditions.