Rockstar’s been embroiled for some time in a legal dispute after firing 30 unionised workers in the UK, which has, naturally, been seen as union-busting behaviour by those impacted. The workers, who are part of The Independent Workers Union of Great Britain (IWGB), have been making solid progress.
In June of this year, it was decided that IWGB would be allowed to present its case that Rockstar had allegedly blacklisted its unionised employees—as in, compiled a list of union members—which would be in violation of The Employment Relations Act, which plainly states that you can’t compile a “details of persons who are or have been members of trade unions” for the purposes of “treating a person less favourably than another on grounds of trade union membership or trade union activities.”
The full trial will be held in September, but in the meantime, the IWGB has stated that folks excited for GTA 6 don’t have to boycott the game on their behalf. In a recent video, fired employees stated: “We’re going to make it easy for you. Don’t boycott GTA 6, win justice for the people who helped make it.
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“We spent years pouring our hard work, skill, and creativity into making GTA. And we want people to experience the universe that we helped build. But that doesn’t mean we want you to let Rockstar off the hook.”
They then go on to remind us of the shockingly cutthroat way in which they were fired—which the union called, back then, “one of the most blatant and ruthless acts of union busting in the history of the games industry.”
The video continues: “Without warning, we were called into meetings and fired without representation, evidence, or a chance to respond. In minutes, we lost our jobs, our income, our work on GTA, and had ‘gross misconduct’ stamped on our records.”
Instead, the union calls for concerned gamers to buy a t-shirt from the IWGB, with all proceeds going towards legal funds for the upcoming dispute.
Rockstar insists that the developers in question “distributed and discussed confidential information”, something the IWGB described as an attempt to “mischaracterise workers speaking about their working conditions in a private forum as ‘leaking information’.” Then-prime minister Keir Starmer commented on the dismissal as “a deeply concerning case.”
