German workers in the games industry, together with their union ver.di, a member organisation of UNI, have put forward a series of demands at devcom, Europe’s largest conference for electronic game developers, currently taking place in Cologne.

In Germany and around the world, video game workers are organizing for humane working hours, job security, fair pay, and respect. ver.di is using devcom to strengthen its ongoing advocacy for workers’ biggest concerns and launch the Game Devs Round Table (GDRT), a worker-led coalition to change the industry.

“In order to stop complaining about workloads, harassment and opaque decision-making processes, employees in the games industry have actively organized themselves in the GDRT within ver.di. Together we want to significantly improve working conditions. We advocate fair wages, collective agreements, extended notice periods and gender equality. The industry urgently needs to rethink,” said Trade union secretary Matthias Grzegorczyk.

Under the DDRT, workers are making the following six main demands:

1. Fair wages: Despite record profits in the industry, employees’ wages are stagnating and not keeping pace with inflation. Workers are therefore demanding annual salary adjustments and fair compensation.
2. Collective agreement: A collective agreement regulates working conditions such as wages, vacation days and working hours in a transparent and binding manner. Our goal is to establish such collective agreements step by step in companies and ultimately in the entire German games industry.
3. Working hours: Overtime should always be voluntary and accepting or refusing overtime should not disadvantage employees. Employees should be able to decide whether to take overtime as payment or as an additional holiday. In the long term, employers must reduce working hours while continuing to pay full wages.
4. Transparency: Regular information on the status of companies, finances and projects is necessary. We demand early involvement in decision-making processes in order to best support the results.
5. Contract standards: Fixed-term contracts and long probationary periods create uncertainty. We therefore demand transparent contracts that allow for a good work-life balance and more flexibility. We also demand longer notice periods and protection after the end of the project.
6. Gender equality: The industry is currently hostile to families and discriminates against women. We demand equal opportunities for advancement, fair pay and flexible working hours to combat systemic discrimination. In addition, victims of abuse and harassment must be protected and perpetrators held accountable.

UNI Global Union supports ver.di in its global initiative to help workers in the games industry gain more influence in the workplace.

Karri Lybeck, Senior Coordinator and Organizer for UNI ICTS, Tech and Gamesis in Cologne to support the launch. He said:

“Together we stand for an industry in which every game developer has a collective agreement, in which fair wages, balanced working hours and equal opportunities are the rule and not the exception. Organizing for justice is not a secondary task here, but the main action.”