#n7severanceday

[felassan]

[source (Senior Reporter at Kotaku), linked Kotaku article, two, 'FC 24's performance link', three, four, @/N7SeveranceDay (source of the last two images, "Account supporting BioWare employees laid off in 2023."), five, six, Polygon tweet, Polygon article]

"BioWare Continues to Refuse to Pay Severance" statement transcript:

“BioWare Continues to Refuse to Pay Severance On August 23 of this year, BioWare eliminated “approximately 50 roles at BioWare”. Following the layoffs, seven ex-BioWare employees engaged the services of R. Alex Kennedy to represent their interests, stating that the amount of severance offered was insufficient under Alberta common law. Counsel for the employees has attempted to reach a compromise that would avoid requiring lengthy court proceedings, but BioWare’s lawyers refused any offers to negotiate and settle out of court. The basis of Kennedy’s claim is that according to Alberta precedents and under Canadian law, these employees should be receiving approximately 1.7 months of severance per year of service they gave to BioWare. BioWare has now filed a Statement of Defence, which argues that the seven terminated employees are only entitled to two weeks of severance per year spent in service to BioWare, because of a contract provision that Kennedy says is not enforceable. The filing means BioWare will be taking these former employees to court rather than working towards finding an out of court resolution. The developers involved in the suit have expressed their disappointment: - “We are disappointed that BioWare prefers stalling and intimidation tactics to fair dealing with people who have given years, and in some cases decades, of dedication and hard work to the company.” - “We believe they are using intimidation and stalling tactics to try and get us to drop out. A lot of the more junior employees and those with families, who had more monetary pressure on them, could not risk waiting on a court case that may take many months more to resolve, and have already had to drop out.” - “At the time of the layoffs, BioWare offered us professional assistance in finding new employment, and an additional payment, but ONLY on the condition that we signed an agreement saying we cannot talk about any details of the settlement, and that we would completely waive any right to legal action or even to complain in any way about anyone associated with BioWare now or ever in the future. Tactics like that sure make me think that BioWare knows it is in the wrong.” - “Despite what they publicly announced when they laid us off, this process has been anything but empathetic, respectful, and communicative.” The latest BioWare layoffs were the third round so far this year, and many of the developers affected even in earlier rounds are still searching for work, though some have started to find new positions. Regardless of employment status, the members of the current lawsuit state they remain determined to pursue BioWare in court, regardless of their employment status: - “We strongly believe that if Dragon Age: Dreadwolf does not do as well as BioWare or EA wants at launch, there will be more, even larger layoffs. Therefore, regardless of our own well-being, we believe it is important to hold BioWare responsible and get a clear decision on what settlement amount is legal. We’re no longer part of the development team, so the best way we can help our former teammates now is to hold BioWare accountable and ensure that the next group who is laid off are not treated as poorly as we were.” November 7th marks “N7 Day”, which is a fan celebration of BioWare’s Mass Effect games featuring Commander Shepard and the crew of the Normandy. The developers involved in the lawsuit are hoping N7 Day this year will be a reminder to BioWare of the importance of loyalty to your crew, and hope fans can have a little fun and help express their support with memes and images using an #N7SeveranceDay hashtag. The ex-employees involved in the suit are all based in Canada and have an average of 14 years at BioWare.”

[source]

You can express your support using the hashtag #N7SeveranceDay.

Edit: [Part 2/update] [more on the Keywords topic]

[keriweird]

Happy N7 Day!

Johnny Shepard-Itō pausing to take it all in while cooling his heels in the Alliance Detention Center, Vancouver.

[flonion]

Tea time on the Citadel ( ´ ∀ `)ノ～ ♡

Happy N7 day!

[scienceofmasseffect]

This N7 day so far

https://www.ea.com/en-gb/games/mass-effect/epsilon https://www.ea.com/games/mass-effect/oc ... 9-defiance

[alongtidesoflight]

my two questions about that mass effect concept art thing they dropped yesterday are

1) how is garrus in a shot that also has the angara in it

2) where are the fucking quarians bioware!! there's a geth right there, give me a quarian!!!!

[youtubesearchhistory]

Any1 else lowkey bored of these short ass teasers bioware is giving us lol... I mean based on the fact that bioware isn't paying it's workers severance after laying off a bunch of them I doubt the game is finished enough to show anything else but like... this has basically been 3 years in a row of nothing. I don't wanna say it but I forsee the game being trapped in development hell

[keriweird]

Before she was N7, she was Ace

i'm damn near speechless and @elleweird is a magician

[felassan]

Article: 'Ex-Dragon Age testers picket BioWare office as others fight for severance'

‘The hope with our actions is [to] convince Keywords to reinstate those they terminated with new work’

"Ex-Keywords Studios QA testers, who worked on Dragon Age: Dreadwolf, will picket in front of BioWare’s Edmonton office on Tuesday. BioWare attempted to block the picket with an appeal to the Alberta Labour Relations Board, according to industry publication Game Developer, but the board ruled in the union’s favor. “The hope with our actions is [to] convince Keywords to reinstate those they terminated with new work,” former Keywords tester James Russwurm told Polygon. The rally will begin at 2 p.m. EST on Nov. 7 outside the BioWare office in Edmonton, Alberta in Canada. The QA testers were laid off from Keywords Studios in September after BioWare declined to renew its contract with the company. Though the QA workers were employed by Keywords Studios, they were contracted out to BioWare to work on Dragon Age: Dreadwolf. Without the Dragon Age: Dreadwolf contract, Keywords said there was no work elsewhere for the testers. The workers, who were unionized with the United Food and Commercial Workers Canada Union, Local No. 401, were in negotiations with Keywords Studios when they were laid off. BioWare attempted to block the picket, claiming that it was not an appropriate location for the rally — the company claimed that the Edmonton office was not the QA workers’ workplace because they worked from home. The Alberta Labour Relations Board ruled in favor of the union, however, as the Keywords testers worked alongside BioWare staff, even if it was just remotely. The picket can’t interrupt access to the building, which houses several offices besides BioWare’s. Neither Electronic Arts (BioWare’s owner) nor BioWare has responded to Polygon’s request for comment. Nov. 7 is known as N7 Day in the Mass Effect and BioWare community, a reference to a military designation in the popular Mass Effect franchise. Another group of laid-off workers, previously employed by BioWare, have started up a hashtag — #N7SeveranceDay — for fans to use for support. Roughly 50 BioWare employees were laid off in August; seven of those 50 employees are suing the company for better severance pay. R. Alex Kennedy, a lawyer representing the group of employees, told Polygon that BioWare has refused to negotiate; the case will move to the Canadian courts. A full trial, with witness testimony, could take years, he said. These layoffs are separate from the layoffs at Keywords Studios, but Russwurm said the two groups stand in solidarity with each other. “We are 100% there in solidarity with those workers who were let go from BioWare,” he said. “I believe they have an N7 day announcement that coincides with our strike day and we’ll likely see some of them at the picket line showing support for us. We all worked alongside one another for years on Dreadwolf and ultimately suffered the same fate. We hope that our picket and actions can show that there is a way to fight back against unjust practices these studios take.”

[source]

[felassan]

Some more on this:

[source, two, three, four, five (Twitch, YouTube, Instagram, Twitter links), six, seven, eight, nine]

'EA on the BioWare picket tomorrow [today now]' statement transcript:

"We hope that Keywords and the union are able to resolve their differences but ultimately BioWare has no role in that process. It is our view that any activities targeting our offices are misguided as BioWare is not involved in any way in the negotiations and Epcor Tower has never been a place of employment for Keywords employees."

You can express your support using the hashtag #N7SeveranceDay.

[first post/Part 1]

[felassan]

updates from the N7SeveranceDay Twitter [source, two, three]

[keriweird]

Happy N7 Day!

Portrait of my OC Shepard! Meet Johnny Shepard-Itou, 5'9" (thinks he's 5'10"), 160lb, Spacer, Ruthless, Paragade, Vanguard/Infiltrater.

[felassan]

Article: 'Mass Effect fans and devs use N7 Day 2023 to send a message to BioWare following layoffs and low severance pay'

"N7 Day this year will be a reminder to BioWare of the importance of loyalty to your crew"

Excerpts:

''Mass Effect fans are using the game's annual day of celebration to send a message to BioWare after it laid off several employees last month. [...] Fans of Mass Effect have come together to take part in #N7SeveranceDay hashtag on Twitter, with one Twitter account, @N7SeveranceDay, leading the effort. [...] This is just one of the ways people are sending a message to BioWare on N7 Day.''

[source]

[marlenawatches]

I'm a bit late to this party but yeah.

[source (Senior Reporter at Kotaku), linked Kotaku article, two, 'FC 24's performance link', three, four, @/N7SeveranceDay (source of the last two images, "Account supporting BioWare employees laid off in 2023."), five, six, Polygon tweet, Polygon article]

"BioWare Continues to Refuse to Pay Severance" statement transcript:

“BioWare Continues to Refuse to Pay Severance On August 23 of this year, BioWare eliminated “approximately 50 roles at BioWare”. Following the layoffs, seven ex-BioWare employees engaged the services of R. Alex Kennedy to represent their interests, stating that the amount of severance offered was insufficient under Alberta common law. Counsel for the employees has attempted to reach a compromise that would avoid requiring lengthy court proceedings, but BioWare’s lawyers refused any offers to negotiate and settle out of court. The basis of Kennedy’s claim is that according to Alberta precedents and under Canadian law, these employees should be receiving approximately 1.7 months of severance per year of service they gave to BioWare. BioWare has now filed a Statement of Defence, which argues that the seven terminated employees are only entitled to two weeks of severance per year spent in service to BioWare, because of a contract provision that Kennedy says is not enforceable. The filing means BioWare will be taking these former employees to court rather than working towards finding an out of court resolution. The developers involved in the suit have expressed their disappointment: - “We are disappointed that BioWare prefers stalling and intimidation tactics to fair dealing with people who have given years, and in some cases decades, of dedication and hard work to the company.” - “We believe they are using intimidation and stalling tactics to try and get us to drop out. A lot of the more junior employees and those with families, who had more monetary pressure on them, could not risk waiting on a court case that may take many months more to resolve, and have already had to drop out.” - “At the time of the layoffs, BioWare offered us professional assistance in finding new employment, and an additional payment, but ONLY on the condition that we signed an agreement saying we cannot talk about any details of the settlement, and that we would completely waive any right to legal action or even to complain in any way about anyone associated with BioWare now or ever in the future. Tactics like that sure make me think that BioWare knows it is in the wrong.” - “Despite what they publicly announced when they laid us off, this process has been anything but empathetic, respectful, and communicative.” The latest BioWare layoffs were the third round so far this year, and many of the developers affected even in earlier rounds are still searching for work, though some have started to find new positions. Regardless of employment status, the members of the current lawsuit state they remain determined to pursue BioWare in court, regardless of their employment status: - “We strongly believe that if Dragon Age: Dreadwolf does not do as well as BioWare or EA wants at launch, there will be more, even larger layoffs. Therefore, regardless of our own well-being, we believe it is important to hold BioWare responsible and get a clear decision on what settlement amount is legal. We’re no longer part of the development team, so the best way we can help our former teammates now is to hold BioWare accountable and ensure that the next group who is laid off are not treated as poorly as we were.” November 7th marks “N7 Day”, which is a fan celebration of BioWare’s Mass Effect games featuring Commander Shepard and the crew of the Normandy. The developers involved in the lawsuit are hoping N7 Day this year will be a reminder to BioWare of the importance of loyalty to your crew, and hope fans can have a little fun and help express their support with memes and images using an #N7SeveranceDay hashtag. The ex-employees involved in the suit are all based in Canada and have an average of 14 years at BioWare.”

[source]

You can express your support using the hashtag #N7SeveranceDay.