United Videogame Workers–CWA Launch New Organizing Campaigns at GDC Following Anniversary

San Francisco, Calif. – One year after video game workers announced the formation of their direct-join, industry-wide union in March 2025 at the Game Developers Conference, United Videogame Workers-CWA Local 9433 (UVW-CWA) attended the 2026 GDC Festival of Gaming (formerly known as the Game Developer Conference) to launch several organizing campaigns across the industry.

“At UVW-CWA, we are continuing to shape the future of video game work in North America one year into our formation. We are committed to defining decent and dignified working conditions and compensation for our members and fighting for all game workers regardless of their immigration status,” said UVW-CWA Local 9433 President Aurelia Augusta. “These campaigns are just a small look into what our plans are for 2026 and beyond. We are excited to finally make video games an industry where the workers are the protagonists."

UVW-CWA Members Lead Solidarity March to Yerba Buena Gardens

 
UVW-CWA members at the Yerba Buena Gardens in San Francisco, Calif., at the GDC Festival of Gaming 2026. [Courtesy of UVW-CWA Local 9433 member Myriame Lachapelle. Full photos by Myriame Lachapelle can be found here.]

On Wednesday, March 19, UVW-CWA members joined CODE-CWA in a panel discussion about the historic rise of the game industry labor movement, titled “Fight and Ye Shall Receive: How CWA’s Game Worker Union Campaigns Are Changing the Industry.”

Directly following the panel, union members, video game developers, and GDC 2026 attendees marched to the Yerba Buena Gardens to discuss the Game Workers’ Bill of Rights, a worker-led set of shared principles to create a standard for fair treatment, better conditions, and real power for everyone who makes video games.

“This is the first step in an industry-wide process of worker-driven consultation,” said UVW-CWA Organizing Committee Chair Vlada M. “Once put together and used alongside our growing union campaign and workplace presence, our proposed Game Workers’ Bill of Rights will allow us to encourage and pressure employers to build the kind of industry we deserve, that empowers us to continue making the games we love.”

We Don’t Play With ICE: UVW-CWA Members Launch 4th Amendment Workplace Petition

As part of the Game Workers’ Bill of Rights, UVW-CWA launched “We Don’t Play With ICE” to unite the industry in becoming “4th Amendment Workplaces” to protect immigrants and visa-holders from ICE agents. 4th Amendment Workplaces ensure that workers don’t have to live in fear over their immigration status by holding video game companies and employers accountable and prohibiting illegal searches without a judicial warrant.

Video game workers who are ready to defend immigrant video game developers at their studio can sign the pledge here.

A Game Industry Conference by Game Workers, for Game Workers

After years in the making, UVW-CWA also announced the inaugural Game Workers Conference, an industry-wide event made by and for the countless game workers who make the industry and artistic medium succeed. The conference will be entirely virtual and will be held on Friday, May 22, and Saturday, May 23, 2026.

Highlights of the conference will include:

• Game workers from across AAA and indie development studios sharing about their crafts, their working conditions, and union organizing experiences;
• Members of the Game Awards Future Class discussing their experiences during the program and how things might be improved for the future;
• Organizers from No Games for Genocide on the ties between the games industry and war, genocide, and oppression—and what we can do about it;
• Game industry journalists in a candid panel discussion about their experiences, the ties between press and industry, and their relationship to game worker movements.

Full speaker and session announcements will be released at a later date here. Game workers interested in attending are encouraged to sign up here.

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About CODE-CWA

The Campaign to Organize Digital Employees (CODE-CWA) is a network of worker-organizers and their staff working every single day to build the voice and power necessary to ensure the future of the tech, game, and digital industries in the United States and Canada. CODE-CWA is a project of the Communications Workers of America which represents hundreds of thousands of workers throughout tech, media, telecom, and other industries who stand together to fight for justice on the job and in our communities.

About CWA

The Communications Workers of America represents working people in telecommunications, customer service, media, airlines, health care, public service and education, manufacturing, tech, and other fields.

cwa-union.org @cwaunion