Paradox Signs Collective Agreement with Employee Union

For a long time now, ground-level employees of the games industry have been wrestling with their own companies, which historically has paid them very well but generally treated them like crap – forcing them to work crunch, not use vacation days, and generally force them to be wage slaves until they either have mental breakdowns or they’re laid off.

For a long time, the solution was “unionization”, but in an industry where so much inter-mingling happens, being the first person to push for an industry-wide union would be paramount to career suicide. And while this latest news from Swedish-based studio Paradox doesn’t address the systemic issues of the industry, it is certainly a step in the right direction.

Because in a press release yesterday, Paradox announced their employees have secured a collective bargaining agreement to ensure they get a seat at the table.

This agreement will ensure current benefits are formalized and protected, and makes it easier – and safer – to negotiate new things, like pay increases and more time off. If Paradox wants to change anything, for better or worse, they won’t be able to without permission from the CBA, which is functionally a union.

Currently, the agreement mandates pay time for time spent on call, pay or vacation days for overtime work, and some minimum payments put into a pension. Stuff many employees already had before, but now it’s formal, and universal.

It’s important to note, however, this agreement only extends to the Swedish branch of the company. Studios outside Sweden will need to make their own unions, although Paradox has announced they’re open to doing that.

That’s cool, and a step in the right direction. We’ll have to see of other studios within Paradox follow that example, or, god willing, other developers and publishers enter similar agreements.

It’s good news. And we just… need good news right now, you know?