D&D and Magic: The Gathering teams are joining the Arena team’s union
The Dungeons & Dragons and Magic: The Gathering teams at Wizards of the Coast are unionizing, and are calling on Hasbro and Wizards leadership to stop pushing generative AI.
According to IGN, the Wizards of the Coast-CWA (UWOTC-CWA) is expanding to include the D&D team and Team X, which works on Magic: The Gathering and Duel Masters.
Wizards has until October 13 to voluntarily recognize the expanded unit.
The company did not voluntarily recognize the union when it covered only the Arena team, which unionized in April and has since won its union election. If Hasbro declines again, the union would have to file with the National Labor Relations Board and win another election.
In a petition setting out its demands, the union writes: “Leadership, without regard for the desires of our teams, has pushed for adoption of LLMs and generative AI. This has to stop; our teams deserve a robust and enforceable AI policy that aligns with our goals and values.”
The union is also demanding ownership of what employees create outside of work, as it did in its April announcement letter.
“Currently, if an employee makes anything creative in their free time, with their own resources, Hasbro may claim ownership,” the letter said. “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.”
In May, Wizards of the Coast and Hasbro missed the deadline to voluntarily recognize a union formed by Magic: The Gathering Arena developers. Later that same month, WotC wrote to its employees to warn that unionizing could mean staff “end up with more, the same or less than [they] have now,” and suggested that “your voice is strongest when it is heard directly.”
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