While things can be bad in software in general, game developers need a union more than anyone. Conditions in that industry are horrendous. The entire period of a game's development is "crunch time". Everyone is exempt, so no overtime of course. And it is standard practice to downsize studios and have mass layoffs right after big launches. It's a shame that so many are drawn to this just because of a passion for gaming.

> Is there an umbrella union that they can belong to?

The article here mentions the umbrella union that this effort was associated with, Communications Workers of America (which itself is part of AFL-CIO.)

IPFTE, I think, also organizes software developers along with other professional and technical workers, and SEIU has a lot in the public and nonprofit sectors.

If you want that, you’d have to negotiate for it, and now doesn’t seem like a great time.

But given the continual decrease in job stability in tech, perhaps we’re headed toward more of a Hollywood model, where the skilled workers are nearly all free-lance and project-based, and have powerful unions with such provisions industry-wide.

According to the article, they are part of the Communications Workers of America.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Communications_Workers_of_Amer...

Situation: There are 14 competing unions.

You: That's ridiculous! We need one universal union that covers everyone's needs. Yeah!

Situation: There are 15 competing unions.

With a factory, the owner has to deal with the cost of all the late or canceled deliveries. With farms, the crops wither on the vines.

There's not really an equivalent with most service industries. Software engineers don't even need to be around for the programs to keep running.