The Industrial Workers of the World (IWW) are pleased to announce that following a statutory ballot our members have won union recognition at Escape Hunt Exeter.
This is a momentous occasion for the escape room industry as a whole celebrating the very first successful union recognition ballot in the UK. Workers at Exeter Escape Hunt began organising with the IWW Escape Rooms Workers Union (ERWU) earlier this year and quickly built enough support in the workplace to win a recognition ballot to determine if Games Masters and Supervisors should be officially represented by the IWW in negotiations with their employer on issues such as pay, holiday, health and safety.
While recognition can be a long and difficult process to navigate it felt important to show other workers in the industry that there is a union for escape rooms workers and that it is winning ground in one of the largest companies in the UK.
The IWW is a grassroots union and we believe that it is in the interest of all the workers at Escape Hunt to have the union recognised to give everyone a voice. With recognition the union is now able to hold regular meetings within the workplace to discuss any issues you are facing and to raise these with management. We want all workers in the industry to have more of a say on how you want your workplace to be run, to have stronger legal protections and collective rights to do this and to fight for change.
A group of experienced Games Masters across several companies founded the ERWU in 2023 and since going public have spoken to people throughout the industry about the changes employees want to see.
Since the boom of UK escape rooms in the early 2010s we are witnessing a transition from a DIY fad to an industry employing thousands, with several larger companies at the forefront.
Despite this growth and expansion many of the early issues across the industry still remain – especially the problem that the many workers who build, maintain and operate escape rooms on a daily basis and deliver the guest experience are not treated with the respect that they deserve.
From listening to the experiences shared with the ERWU it seems that many workers face common issues in the workplace like poor health and safety standards, inadequate training, low wages, employers not following a fair disciplinary process, staff not permitted to take breaks and generally not being listened to.
The ERWU wants escape room workers, involved in all the facets of the business, to have agency in how things are run, to be able to improve conditions and for more opportunities to open up for making the work we love a career that can sustain us.
To these ends, the ERWU is proud that the workers at Escape Hunt Exeter have set an example for the whole industry by successfully balloting to recognise the IWW union and to inspire many others to do the same.
To contact the Escape Room Workers Union for support solidarity and advice email: padlock [at] iww [dot] org [dot] uk