Rockstar Games, the developer behind the Grand Theft Auto (GTA) series, fired dozens of employees earlier this month. The firings resulted in allegations of union busting by the Independent Workers Union of Great Britain (IWGB), which has culminated in over 200 current Rockstar employees signing a letter demanding their fired colleagues be reinstated at their former positions.
At the beginning of November, Rockstar fired roughly 30 employees. The IWGB alleged that Rockstar was “enacting the most brazen act of union busting” in the video game industry. According to the IWGB, all of the fired employees were current or prospective members of the union who chatted within a union-ran Discord server.
Take-Two Interactive, Rockstar’s parent company, responded to the allegations by saying the employees were fired due to “gross-misconduct” rather than union activity. Take-Two later went on to allege that the employees were fired for leaking company information in a “public forum,” although the IWGB claimed that the Discord server only contained Rockstar and union employees.
A few days ago, the IWGB announced their decision to file a legal claim against Rockstar for the alleged union busting. According to the union, the legal filing is the result of Rockstar refusing to communicate and collaborate with the IWGB about reinstating the fired employees.
Now, the Game Workers branch of the IWGB has released a statement claiming that 220 current Rockstar staff members have signed a letter in support of their fired colleagues. The staff members at Rockstar North took the signed letter to senior management at the company.
Peter, an anonymized alias for one the fired employees, told the IWGB that “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.” Fred Carter, an IWGB organizer, also alleged that Rockstar “benefits from more than £440 million in UK tax relief, while displaying a callous and blatant disregard for both the livelihood of workers and the letter of the law.
In addition to the letter, on the 18th of November, the union is organizing a protest at 6PM on Holyrood. Said protest coincides with the “cross-party parliamentary group meeting on Scotland’s game industry.”
The current state of the IWGB’s legal filing against Rockstar, or whether or not the company will accept the union’s demand and reinstate the employees, remains unknown.