By Graham Kilmer – Oct 21, 2023
Employees of Experis Game Solutions, a video game testing company owned by Manpower Group, are organizing a union.
The workers, who are organizing with the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers Local 10 (IAMAW), filed a petition for a union election with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) Friday.
mployees have “cited serious workplace problems that they want to see addressed through collective bargaining and through the dignity that comes with a voice at work,” IAMAW said in a statement.
“The workers at Experis, who are responsible for quality assurance and troubleshooting of newly developed video games, face a multitude of chronic, industry-wide issues and seek improvements in several areas including pay, maintaining a healthy work-life balance, and workplace health & safety issues,” IAMAW said.
Their top priority, the union said, is securing a family-supporting wage. “Many were drawn to their jobs at Experis because of their desire to work in the video game industry, only to be faced with burnout and a struggle to cover basic living expenses,” IAMAW said. “Other problems that Experis workers want addressed by management are the frequency of misleading information provided by job recruiters and the lack of clear communication channels to address workplace issues.”
In its statement, IAMAW referenced an August ruling by the NLRB, called the CEMEX decision, and said, “Under the recent Cemex… the workers at Experis are excited to participate in a union election free from employer-induced fear, intimidation, and misinformation that is so commonly a part of an anti-union campaign.”
This new ruling by the board allows workers to gain recognition of their union simply by presenting their employer with Union Authorization Cards signed by a majority of workers. But, importantly, it also changed the rules surrounding NLRB elections. Under this new framework, if an election is held and an employer is found to have committed any “unfair labor practice” between the petition for election and the actual vote, then the outcome of the election is dismissed and instead of holding another vote, the NLRB will simply order the employer to recognize and bargain with the union.
“The Cemex decision reaffirms that elections are not the only appropriate path for seeking union representation, while also ensuring that, when elections take place, they occur in a fair election environment,” said NLRB Chairman Lauren McFerran following the ruling. “Under Cemex, an employer is free to use the Board’s election procedure, but is never free to abuse it—it’s as simple as that.”
The IAMAW represents more than half a million active and retired workers in North America. In 2020, IAMAW helped workers at the Milwaukee Art Museum successfully organize a union.
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