Frequently Asked Questions – United Paizo Workers

Do you have a question for the United Paizo Workers that hasn’t been answered here? Feel free to email it to us at stewards@unitedpaizoworkers.org or post it to our Twitter, and we’ll be happy to add it to our list.

Why a union?

Fundamentally, everyone involved in this effort wants Paizo to succeed, and we are hopeful that this success can be more effectively accomplished with better organization and representation. Unionizing does not need to be adversarial, and we would prefer for it not to be. We recognize that Paizo has experienced some growing pains in transitioning from a handful of people making magazines to an industry leader, and a large proportion of those difficulties stem from management not always being able or willing to listen to the workers, delegate, or trust the experts they hired to do the correct things. If Paizo leadership is as reasonable and cooperative as we hope they will be, then union representation will be able to ensure the commitments that management is theoretically already prepared to make, as well as to safeguard them in the future. We believe that management is willing and able to make the changes we believe to be necessary, and one of our goals in unionizing is to ensure that they don’t have to make those decisions alone. With union representation included in the discussions, middle management no longer has to shoulder the burden of conveying the needs of their reports to the executives, and communication between upper management and the Paizo workforce at large can become both clearer and more direct.

Are Paizo employees on strike?

Paizo employees are neither striking nor asking for a boycott. As of September 16, 2021, 40+ freelance Paizo contributors have chosen not to accept further assignments for Paizo, in solidarity with the staff members they work closely with. You can find their statement here. UPW hopes that management will recognize the union by October 25. In the meantime, union members are reporting to work and encouraging the public to continue to lend support, whether that includes buying Paizo products at this time or not.

I want to help! What’s the best way for me to support United Paizo Workers?

Thank you! As of right now, the most helpful thing you can do to help United Paizo Workers is to email members of Paizo’s executive team and urge them to voluntarily accept the union. You can email them at jeff.alvarez@paizo.com, erik.mona@paizo.com, or lisa.stevens@paizo.com. Remember to be polite and civil! We’re not here to antagonize anyone or start a fight, we just want a seat at the table so that the whole company can work together to make Paizo as great as we all know it can be.

If you’re not comfortable emailing anyone directly, you can always raise awareness on Twitter or your platform of choice by following the @PaizoWorkers account and using the #UnionizePaizo hashtag, and encouraging your friends and followers to do the same. We even have a downloadable community package of avatar icons, Zoom backgrounds, and other assorted digital items that you can use to show your support right here!

And finally, if you feel like throwing a couple of bucks our way, you can help offset our website hosting and other costs by purchasing UPW logo branded shirts, mugs, buttons, and all kinds of other stuff from our merch page! We’ve already got a ton of cool stuff up there and plans to add even more, and all of the profits will go to support the UPW’s expenses.

Thank you again for your support!

Is this a reaction to the widely publicized employee departures on September 13, 2021?

While we were as dismayed as anyone else to lose two prominent members of the Paizo staff in early September of this year, unionization had been under discussion for some time well before then. The formation of United Paizo Workers is not a reaction to a single event or circumstance, but to a pattern of concerns that many employees have held for years. The lack of clear policies in place around September’s events, however, has galvanized the movement by making more employees acutely aware of the tenuous nature of their employment.

What is the relationship between UPW and the #PaizoAccountability movement?

The #PaizoAccountability movement was started by, and continues to be organized by members of the wider Paizo community, including many of our most prolific freelance contributors. Initially formed in response to some controversial personnel changes at Paizo that took place in early September 2021, #PaizoAccountability has been petitioning leadership at Paizo to take responsibility for and address various issues of concern raised by current and former Paizo staff members.

Starting on September 16th, a large number of freelance writers, designers, and developers began calling for #PaizoAccountability by refusing new contracts until a number of demands for improvements to working conditions at the company had been made. When United Paizo Workers announced their intention to unionize on October 14th, the community officially stated their support for the union at https://supportpaizoworkers.carrd.co and communicated to management that the work stoppage would cease if and when management chose to voluntarily recognize the union.

While United Paizo Workers are a separate entity and have no formal relationship with #PaizoAccountability or any of the communities therein, we are indescribably grateful for their passion and hard work in bringing these issues to light and by throwing their support behind the union. We firmly believe that as two distinct groups sharing similar ideals for what Paizo can become, we can work together to create change from inside and outside the company to far greater effect than either group could hope to achieve on its own.