[Acert93]

CNET

Electronic Arts, the world's biggest video game company, said Wednesday that it will pay $15.6 million to settle a lawsuit filed by current and former graphic artists seeking overtime pay

Under the settlement, about 200 entry-level artists will become hourly workers eligible for overtime pay and a one-time grant of restricted EA stock. Those employees would be excluded from bonuses and stock option grants, said Jose Martin, head of human resources for EA's global studios.
Miranda Kolbe, the attorney for the EA artists, did not immediately return calls seeking comment.

A similar lawsuit, filed in February by EA programmers, is still pending

This part is a joke though:

The lawsuits signify a changing view among some workers at Silicon Valley companies, where employees have traditionally traded long unstructured work hours for the chance to get rich with stock option grants.

Very few people on a dev team ever get rich. I do feel for the guys who work in the industry to make the products we enjoy.

[twotonfld]

As a SW engineer outside the games industry (but with eyes very focused on that industry), I've been a proponent for SW/HW engineering unionization based on the work culture adopted by the industry as a whole. The industry could garner a lot of protections that it currently does not possess across the board.

I've always said that we engineers have the bluest white-collars I've ever seen.