Writers at Lovestruck, a publisher of visual romance novels for mobiles, are on strike owing to poor working practices (via Polygon).
These contracted writers, of which twenty-one of them are on strike right now, have banded together to become a collective called Voltage Organized Workers. They claim that they have suffered under the management of Voltage Entertainment USA, the owner of Lovestruck. “Not only are we paid less than half the industry standard rate, we are asked to meet extremely tight deadlines and produce enormous amounts of content without protections or benefits,” said the collective in a statement. “We want to see our hard work and commitment to authentic storytelling given the value it deserves.”
The writers want “better working conditions, greater transparency, and increased protections.” However, management for Voltage Entertainment USA has rejected the collective’s claims that the developer mismanages its team of writers. It also added in a statement published earlier this week that it had tried to negotiate with writers individually. This did not resolve the situation, because the workers had refused to negotiate individually. “‘Voltage Organized Workers’ is not a union,” said Voltage Entertainment USA.
In the meantime, the company has brought on board new writers to replace those who are on strike. They’re paid “at the same rate increases we proposed to resolve the issue,” said Voltage Entertainment USA. However, the company has not responded to Polygon’s further queries about the conflict.
