Following the successful unionization efforts of the MTG Arena team in June, more workers at Wizards of the Coast (WotC) are seeking to do the same.
The MTG Arena team paved the way by forming United Wizards of the Coast — an affiliation of the Communications Workers of America which is now referred to as UWOTC-CWA — and now Studio X and the Dungeons & Dragons team are looking to join as well. The CWA is the largest communications and media labor union in the United States and represents around 700,000 members in the US, Canada, and Puerto Rico.
Studio X is the in-house team at WotC that manages tabletop Magic: The Gathering, ranging from the creative team, game designers, product management, and Magic R&D. Duel Masters is also under Studio X, while the Dungeons & Dragons team handles Dungeons & Dragons and D&D Beyond.
The UWOTC-CWA website announced the course of action today, stating that Studio X and the Dungeons & Dragons team are looking to unionize because “we deserve to be treated with all the respect and dignity that entails.” As the teams behind the majority of Hasbro’s profits, the workers are seeking fair wages, career progression, and job security, protection from AI, better access to healthcare, remote work protections, and more.
UWOTC-CWA is giving WotC and Hasbro a week to voluntarily recognize the union, which is a few more days than the MTG Arena team offered this summer. If the union isn’t recognized, the workers will likely follow the same steps as the MTG Arena team did by holding an election with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) where the workers will vote and need 50 percent + 1 of the votes cast to force WotC to bargain in good faith with the members over working conditions.
WotC responded to the MTG Arena team’s efforts within three days, where it effectively said it received the filing and would respond through appropriate channels. WotC then hired legal counsel from Fisher & Phillips LLP, a law firm known for its work in labor relations and, specifically, for helping companies remain union-free workplaces, and attempted to dissuade the workers from joining the union.
Read the announcement from United Wizards of the Coast here or follow its social media accounts on X and Bluesky for more updates.
