MADE Forum: Worker Rights in Games

Join lawyers Michaela Posner and Matthew Erle to discuss their efforts supporting employees at Sega and Activision.

Join us on Saturday, February 10, 2024 at 2pm at The Museum of Art and Digital Entertainment for the next installment of our free MADE Forum Series

At this event, we'll delve into the benefits and challenges of fighting for worker rights in the game industry. Discover how unions and DEI initiatives can empower game industry professionals, advocate for fair working conditions, and promote a healthier work-life balance. There will be time for Q & A after the speaker presentations.

Here are our panelists:

Michaela Posner joined Weinberg, Roger & Rosenfeld as an associate attorney in 2021 after clerking for the firm during law school. Ms. Posner maintains an active labor arbitration and labor and employment litigation practice. She also regularly represents union clients involved in National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) and California Public Employment Relations Board unfair labor practice proceedings and provides counsel on a variety of labor and employment law topics.

Ms. Posner proudly hails from a strong union family, with relatives in the AFT, SAG-AFTRA, UFCW, and the Ironworkers. Her commitment to the labor movement remained firm during her undergraduate years, during which she interned for the NLRB and the Los Angeles City Attorney’s Office.

Matthew J. Erle is an attorney dedicated to helping workers organize and fight for power and dignity on the job. Matt has worked at Weinberg, Roger & Rosenfeld, a union-side law firm, since 2020 and is based at its Bay Area office in Emeryville. He represents unions and workers in a variety of labor and employment law matters, including in representation and unfair labor practice proceedings matters before the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) and in labor arbitrations. Matt also represents workers in wage and hour litigation.

Matt attended UCLA School of Law. During that time, Matt worked with two labor unions. Matt also worked with immigrant workers to combat wage theft as a law clerk at a legal services organization, supported workers seeking to organize their workplace through UCLA’s Immigrant Family Legal Clinic, and served as the co-executive director of El Centro Legal, a student-coordinated network of volunteer legal aid projects serving the Los Angeles community with clinics in the areas of immigration, workers’ rights, and housing, among others

Catie Gutierrez is a project manager at the MADE and founder of Gender Inclusion and Intersectionality in the Gaming Industry, where she aims to create safe spaces for tech creatives. She has worked in games and technology since 2008 in the San Francisco Bay Area, including 3 years in tech start-up companies, and 5 years in AAA video game studios as a quality assurance tester. She was impacted by a layoff at her first job, a start-up in Sunnyvale, during the 2009 recession when the company was bought out. After finishing her masters in Interactive Design and Game Development, she was impacted by a 2016 layoff at Hewlett Packard during the HP Inc. / Hewlett Packard Enterprise split. Since then, she has been engaging professionals in positive and supportive communities in the bay area. She believes in being outspoken about workplace experience and accountability for fair labor practices. She is fascinated with our changing landscape in the American working world, and what the future will hold for millennials and generation Z.

Join us at MADE Forum: Worker Rights in Games to be part of an ongoing movement that shapes the future of the gaming industry.