Workers at Nacon-owned Greedfall 2 studio Spiders have written an open letter to their “employer” detailing grievances they have experienced over a period of several years, and are calling for a strike due to “management's continued refusal to take their concerns seriously.” 44 of Spider's 95 workers have signed the document, which was made public through the French union Stjv, expressing the hope that it will “finally force management to act in the best interests of the employees and the company.”
This document addresses known problems for years that have become significantly more pronounced in the past year since the current chairman of the company took office: instability, opposition to anticipating problems and safeguarding working conditions, global mismanagement, turnover and hiring problems, unacceptable delays in achieving gender equality and equity, significant lack of transparency, denial of the problems, lack of recognition of worker representation, and obstructed negotiations.
The open letter is the second from unhappy Spiders employees, following an earlier document and related strike on January 19. “Since then,” the workers wrote, “new wage negotiations have begun and conditions at the studio have continued to deteriorate.”
The document itself is 20 pages long, outlining the issues, and ends with a list of demands to “secure our lives, our careers, and the company in the short and long term.” The issues listed include “a clear lack of transparency regarding all aspects of the company,” “a challenging production cycle for Greedfall 2,” and “management's steadfast refusal to accept collective action.”
Their demands are broadly for greater transparency and worker representation, an end to “authoritarian and ineffective centralization of power,” greater freedom to work from home, wage increases commensurate with other Nacon studios, and “the immediate correction of all wage discrimination against women and non-binary people.”
The document also includes various cartoons featuring characters from the Spiders game.
“In light of management’s continued refusal to discuss, take seriously the issues raised, and take action to fix them,” Spiders staff have called for a strike to begin next week, September 2. “Specifically, we will be holding a strike outside our corporate offices and online on a Minecraft server created for the occasion on September 2 and 3.”
We've had some positive news on the labor front lately. In the same week last month, both Bethesda Game Studios and World of Warcraft workers formed wall-to-wall unions. Solidarité, Spiders.