Over 200 employees from Rockstar North have signed a letter to management, in which they have condemned the firing of their fellow staff members in a move seen by many as ‘union busting’.
In this letter, Rockstar North’s employees demand their colleagues – all of whom were Independent Workers’ Union of Great Britain (IWGB) Union members – be reinstated. This letter follows protests in London and Edinburgh earlier this month, which were held in solidarity with the fired employees. Further protests are planned to take place in London, Edinburgh and Paris later this month.
The employees had been in the process of forming a union within the company. This union was known as The Rockstar Games Workers Union, and aimed to push for better working conditions ahead of the release of Grand Theft Auto 6.
“It’s heartwarming to see so many of our colleagues supporting us and holding management to account – during a period where Rockstar want us to feel scared, my brave former colleagues are marching straight up to our boss’s door and demanding our voices are heard and not backing down,” said one fired employee, who withheld their name to protect anonymity.
“It’s clear to everyone close to this situation that this is a blatant, unapologetic act of vicious union busting. Rockstar employs so many talented game developers, all of whom are crucial to making the games we put out.”
Rockstar itself has claimed the recent firings were due to misconduct, including leaking information in public channels. However, the IWGB has refuted this, and yesterday announced it had issued a legal claim against the Grand Theft Auto developer.
In a further statement today, IWGB organiser Fred Carter said: “By deciding to fire more than 30 union members, Rockstar have carried out an Amazon-style act of union-busting unprecedented in the games industry. This is a company that benefits from more than £440m in UK tax relief, while displaying a callous and blatant disregard for both the livelihood of workers and the letter of the law.”
Rockstar recently made further headlines after it made the decision to delay the release of GTA 6 from May of next year into November. At this time, publisher Take-Two said the most recent GTA 6 delay is designed to give “some additional time to finish the game with the high level of polish players expect and deserve”. It added “Rockstar has our full support of course”, and that the Take-Two team is “confident they will deliver an unrivalled blockbuster entertainment experience”.
