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An unnamed Nintendo employee has filed a complaint with the National Labor Relations Board. The complaint states that Nintendo, along with a firm it uses for hiring contractors, violated their legally protected right to unionize.

Specifically, the complaint states that Nintendo of America and global hiring firm Aston Carter engaged in “concerted activities” and made “coercive actions” against a worker. This interfered with the work’s legal right to unionize. No exact details on the interference were shared, but it appears there’s allegations of surveillance, threats, retaliation, and either a layoff or refusal to hire.

In response to this news coming out, someone claiming to be a former Nintendo employee took to Twitter to share their own negative experience of working at Nintendo. You can see their full statement below.

Working for nintendo (contract for 3+ years) was one of the most stressful and awful experiences of my life. Coworkers were great, but I was constantly under pressure of being let go for little things like going to the bathroom or being stuck in traffic an extra 2 min b4 work.

Additionally, they have an awful practice of “dangling the carrot” of full time employee to contracts who they almost universally never hire on just to keep exploiting them and keep them quiet. I spoke up to try and better things for coworkers. Main reason I was let go tbh.

UPDATE: Nintendo has shared a statement with us on this matter, which you can find here.

[Axios]

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Comments (12)

mike_intellivision

2y ago

I wonder how much is caused by the subcontractor (if it is a legitimate complaint).


noxide

2y ago

Unions are a bad idea regardless what anyone says to convince you otherwise. It always ends up turning into a money sink and bogs down people from moving up.


mereel

2y ago

“being stuck in traffic an extra 2 min b4 work”

Sounds like quite the professional here. Wake up earlier. Sorry about your commute.


bentetris

2y ago

@mereel

Yikes. I hope you're nobody's boss.


shodaime

2y ago

@noxide

Found the union buster


Still there needs to be some sort of regulation. Since companies more often than not have shown they can ellicit a bad work environment and not do anything to improve it.


thegreatking

2y ago

@mereel

Totally, if true sounds just like a lame employee


cmm1215

2y ago

People are so quick to judge the person speaking out and be hyper critical of what they say, and for some reason NoA gets a free pass in these allegations. Boyks is just one of several to have this experience. It being Nintendo doesn't change anything about this. This stuff happens all over the game industry. That so many are willing to brush this aside is honestly disturbing to me.


socar

2y ago

Give me one good reason why this guy should be pitied just as much as the thousands of staff who are treated worse at companies bigger than Nintendo.


jake_a

2y ago

@noxide

I've worked at two jobs for 5+ years that had ridiculous goals and standards and then barely gave raises each year. The biggest increases in pay were minimum wage increases.

The job I have now does have a union. I get significant raises every year, paid sick time, funeral leave and personal time. These are all things my employer could change on a whim without a union. Even better, if I feel like my employer somehow wrongs me, I can contact my union representatives, president and/or lawyer without repercussions.

I'm sorry you have had a bad experience with unions or were led to believe that they are bad "regardless what anyone says."

They aren't perfect but they are far from a bad idea.


jake_a

2y ago

@socar

Someone always has it worse. It is reasonable to have compassion for people in different situations.


jake_a

2y ago

@cmm1215

That's just our culture as humans. It's sad but true. When someone blows a whistle, every one is quick to judge and doubt. Everyone would rather just be ignorant of any thing that makes them uncomfortable or examine something more closely. Maybe this dude is bogus but I'm just interested to see what happens next.