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IATSE is attempting to represent 21 full-time workers at the Petaluma, California company, which works on titles including ‘TopSpin 2K.’
By Katie Kilkenny
Labor & Media Reporter
Workers at the 2K’s motion capture studio have filed for a union election with the National Labor Relations Board in an attempt to join IATSE, which is positioning this drive as a “historic first.”
The Hollywood crew union is attempting to represent twenty-one full-time workers at the Petaluma, California-based studio, which works on prominent games for both 2K and its parent company, Take-Two Interactive, including NBA 2K, WWE 2K, TopSpin 2K, Bioshock and Mafia. According to the union, organizers requested voluntary recognition but management “declined to respond,” prompting the filing for a petition with the NLRB.
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The union is attempting to represent workers including stage technicians, engineers, animators and recording and audio specialists.
Stage technician Connor Bredbeck, who is a member of the union drive, said in a statement that working for 2K had been a “dream come true” but that “the inequities we are experiencing are endemic to the gaming industry and detract from the work we are all so passionate about.”
The union, which is still in the early stages of a push into the video game space, claims that this drive is the “first public union campaign at a motion capture studio” in video game history.
The Hollywood Reporter has reached out to Take-Two Interactive and 2K for comment.
The 2K workers are organizing in order to negotiate over compensation, which they argue is ungenerous, and working conditions, IATSE says. They are additionally seeking to address wage minimums for incoming workers, salary equity with other companies in the video game industry, job security and a clarification of the work assigned to various job roles.
Said motion capture scene fabricator Cameron Boyce in a statement, “I work with a lot of talented and creative people at 2K, all who deserve to have their jobs protected and their wages fair and competitive.” He added, “Unfortunately management has failed repeatedly to hear our voices when issues arise, which made us feel unheard and ultimately undervalued , and in management’s eyes, expendable.”
In September 2023, IATSE logged its first success in the video game space by unionizing workers at the SpongeBob’s Game Frenzy studio Workinman interactive. The union has attempted to make inroads in the field for years.
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