Announcing United Wizards of the Coast
As of today, Monday, April 27th, the collective workers and laborers behind
Magic: The Gathering Arena are forming a union in affiliation with the Communications Workers of America (CWA). We have achieved a public supermajority of employees committed to our cause and are offering the opportunity for Wizards of the Coast (WOTC) and Hasbro to demonstrate their stated values by voluntarily recognizing our union.
MTG Arena is a vital part of how the world engages with
Magic: The Gathering. We believe that unionizing will increase staff-wellbeing and retention, promote transparency, and ensure equity, and create the healthy environment needed to continue making exceptional products. We know the workers that make the game can and should be treated better, and our aim is to show that to the world through our union efforts. We are building the game industry we want to see in the world.
Why are we Organizing?
We’re seeking better treatment for our union members. Recent decisions by WOTC and Hasbro leadership have not aligned with the values of their employees. These are only some of the issues we face and how we as a union plan to address them:
- Layoff Protections: Employees currently live in fear of suddenly losing their jobs, with no warning and through no fault of their own. We have the opportunity to create strong layoff protections so that we can feel secure in creating long-term careers here at WOTC.
- Remote Work Protections: Leadership is instituting a mandatory RTO, forcing numerous remote employees across the US to work from a physical office or be forced to resign. This painful choice is splitting our employees between their homes, communities, and the jobs they love. Based on company profits, we have demonstrated the ability to meet and exceed our product goals without the in office structure; workers should be able to continue working in the way that is best for them.
- Generative AI Protections: Over the past few years, pressure has ramped up from leadership to adopt LLMs and Gen AI tools in various aspects of our work at WOTC, often over the explicit concerns of impacted employees. WOTC lacks a robust AI policy, leaving opportunities for abuse and communicating a level of disrespect for artists and other creatives. We want to establish clear guidelines around AI, emphasizing worker protections.
- Sustainable Workload: Employees’ experiences with “crunch” (intense, mandatory unpaid overtime) to meet deadlines vary widely by team and project, with some teams crunching on a regular basis just to get planned work out the door. Increasing workload without matching headcount has led to many workers having unacceptable experiences with crunch. We need to take better care of our employees by enacting strong protections around workload expectations.
- Defined Career Progression: Many workers at WOTC feel like they are prevented from advancing in their role, either because opportunities for advancement are sparse or because requirements and opportunities are poorly defined. Employees’ roles should be clearly defined, and they should be able to grow their careers through meaningful raises, role changes, and promotions.
- Our Free Time is Our Own: Currently, if an employee makes anything creative in their free time, with their own resources, Hasbro may claim ownership. What we do in our free time should not be dictated by the company; neither should what we make in our free time be owned by the company.
- We are Stewards of Magic: Our employees and players care about doing the right thing with, and for, the games we make. Short term, profit-driven decisions may be lucrative, but we want to focus on partnerships and products that grow our games sustainably, that inspire us as employees, that excite players, and continue to foster WOTC’s positive reputation.
We call on Hasbro and Wizards of the Coast to voluntarily recognize our union and to publicly commit to remaining neutral during our unionization efforts—not just toward the
MTG Arena team, but to all Hasbro employees and unionization efforts, present and future. We believe in building bridges with our peers on other teams, not divisions. Respecting neutrality ensures a fair and democratic process for everyone.
We are filing an election petition with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) to ensure we are able to express our democratic choice to form a union free of management interference but we will withdraw the petition should you agree to voluntarily recognize our union (in principle) before the close of business on Friday, May 1st—International Workers’ Day. We would greatly prefer to allow the company to willingly engage with us as we proceed however we are filing for an election petition as well to ensure a timely resolution for certifying our union. Should you agree to voluntary recognition in principle, we are happy to coordinate a third-party card check verification of our super majority support in order to finalize a voluntary recognition agreement.
Thank you for your careful consideration of this request.
