CWA Member Attends Historic White House Meeting on Grassroots Worker Organizing

Last Thursday, Alex Speidel, one of the lead organizers from United Paizo Workers/CWA, joined a historic meeting with President Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris, Secretary of Labor Marty Walsh, and other worker organizers at the White House to discuss how he and his coworkers at Paizo won voluntary recognition for their union.

Speidel and his co-workers, who help produce the popular award-winning Pathfinder and Starfinder tabletop game series, formed United Paizo Workers/CWA in the fall of 2021 in response to several workplace issues including pay inequity, abuse, inconsistent hiring practices, managerial impropriety, and more. During the meeting, Speidel told the group that the workers’ position to win voluntary recognition was strengthened by the support they received from freelancers who worked for Paizo. “I was so proud to be able to represent my coworkers, our freelancers who stand with us in solidarity, and the unrivaled Paizo community,” said Speidel in a blog post following the event.

President Biden thanked the worker organizers at the meeting for their leadership and contributions to the worker organizing momentum. “Everybody is entitled to be treated with dignity,” Biden said in a video of the meeting. “And as my dad used to say, sometimes you have to demand it if you don’t get it. And the way to demand it is you organize.”

The event was organized as part of the work the White House Task Force on Worker Organizing and Empowerment is doing to identify actions the Executive Branch can take to support worker power, worker organizing, and collective bargaining. Vice President Harris and Secretary Walsh serve as Chair and Vice-Chair, respectively, of the task force.

Alex Speidel (third from right), one of the lead organizers from United Paizo Workers/CWA, met with President Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris, Secretary of Labor Marty Walsh, and other worker organizers at the White House.