Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month Profile: Sandra Engle

For Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month this year, the AFL-CIO is spotlighting various Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders who have worked and continue to work at the intersection of civil and labor rights in the United States. Today's profile is Sandra Engle of UAW.

Sandra Engle had a long career in the labor movement before becoming the executive director of the Asian Pacific American Labor Alliance (APALA). While working as a criminal appeals lawyer at the Legal Aid Society of New York, she was active in UAW Local 2325, and was elected vice president. After taking a leave of absence, she began organizing with multiple unions across the United States, including AFGE, the Machinists (IAM), the Steelworkers (USW) and UAW. She eventually came home to the UAW when she was put on staff in the Organizing Department and became assistant director. In addition, she has served as UAW assistant director in the national CAP Department as well as Education Department. Most recently she was director of UAW's Communications and Strategic Campaigns departments before retiring.

Kenneth Quinnell Wed, 05/14/2025 - 09:59

Service & Solidarity Spotlight: Overwatch Developers Form Union with CWA

Working people across the United States regularly step up to help out our friends, neighbors and communities during these trying times. In our Service & Solidarity Spotlight series, we’ll showcase one of these stories every day. Here’s today’s story.

Game developers behind Activision Blizzard’s popular franchise Overwatch have become the latest video industry workers to join the Communications Workers of America (CWA) and have secured voluntary recognition from parent company Microsoft.

The Overwatch Gamemakers Guild-CWA (OWGG-CWA) is a wall-to-wall union that covers a wide range of roles, including art, quality assurance, engineering, design and more. The nearly 200-person bargaining unit formed its union with the help of CWA’s tech industry organizing project, Campaign to Organize Digital Employees (CODE-CWA), which has helped 6,000 workers in the United States and Canada form unions over the past five years. OWGG-CWA members cite concerns around job security, wages and layoff protections as core motivators for organizing.

“After a long history of layoffs, crunch, and subpar working conditions in the global video game industry, my coworkers and I are thrilled to be joining the broader union effort to organize our industry for the better, which has been long overdue,” said Foster Elmendorf, senior test analyst II and organizing committee member. “Workers organizing themselves and striving for better conditions as a group allows us to present initiatives that would not only improve our workplace but video games overall.”

Kenneth Quinnell Wed, 05/14/2025 - 09:55