'Grand Theft Auto' Studio Says Fired Employees Were Leaking Information (msn.com)
- Reference: 0179983318
- News link: https://games.slashdot.org/story/25/11/06/1232215/grand-theft-auto-studio-says-fired-employees-were-leaking-information
- Source link: https://www.msn.com/en-in/money/topstories/fired-employees-for-leaking-information-says-grand-theft-auto-studio/ar-AA1PUwVh
> The employees had been sharing company information in a forum that included non-employees, a Rockstar spokesperson said in a statement to Bloomberg on Wednesday. "Last week, we took action against a small number of individuals who were found to be distributing and discussing confidential information in a public forum, a violation of our company policies," the spokesperson said. "This was in no way related to people's right to join a union or engage in union activities." The company, part of Take-Two Interactive Software, fired between 30 and 40 employees across offices in the UK and Canada for what it said was "gross misconduct." The Independent Workers' Union of Great Britain, the first to organize video-game workers in the UK, told Bloomberg that the employees had all been involved with union efforts at Rockstar, calling the firings "one of the most blatant and ruthless acts of union busting in the history of the games industry."
[1] https://www.msn.com/en-in/money/topstories/fired-employees-for-leaking-information-says-grand-theft-auto-studio/ar-AA1PUwVh
There are leaks and there are leaks (Score:2)
1. There are times companies know someone is leaking and deliberately look the other way, either because the leak itself is useful, future leaks by this person are useful, or the person is too highly valued to take action against. "Off the record, our next game is going to have an exciting new character that will blow your socks off, stay tuned."
2. Then there are leaks that are so harmful to a company that action must be taken. "Here's the entire source code for our next game, including trade secrets wort
in the UK the employment tribunal may have an say (Score:2)
in the UK the employment tribunal may have an say.
Also can they say talking about working hours on union chat is company secrets and that lets us fire people?
Re: (Score:2)
I may be recalling incorrectly, but I thought that was illegal in the U.K (as well as in the U.S interestingly).
Re: (Score:2)
The fired employees have a better chance of prevailing in the UK, if the firing was a ruse due to the "Just Cause" employment standard.
In the USA, not so much: Employment-at-will: "You can be fired for any reason or no reason so long as it is not an illegal reason. This "cloud of ambiguity" pretty much allows any company to part ways with an employee provided there's enough of of a documentation trail to ensure the firing wasn't for an illegal reason. Also, pre-dispute arbitration clauses in employment pape
Re: There are leaks and there are leaks (Score:2)
I've been working in cybersecurity for seven years now, across three companies, and I've yet to see any kind of purposeful leak that we've simply tolerated.
Finance (Score:3)
Amazon did the same thing in Quebec. Two months after employees unionized, they closed the factory citing that it was not financially possible to keep it open.
Re: (Score:2)
It doesn't really matter. It's illegal. Since unions are still legal it follows that any attempt to nullify union actions are illegal. And indeed Canada has opened a lawsuit against Amazon for it. If the consensus is that unions are out of date then let someone run with the platform that they will make union forming illegal and see how that goes.
Here is a real conversation I had with someone about a union at a grocery store:
THEM: The union at my work is useless! They promote people that shouldn't be
Re: (Score:2)
Unions are best for contractors working on projects or other term limited employment. The loyalty is to the trade, not the client. Amazon had *employees* trying to organize. Foolish.
makeing talking about pay as violation of our comp (Score:2)
makeing talking about pay as violation of our company policies is not allowed as the is anti union
Sure Jan (Score:4, Insightful)
I'm sure it had nothing to do with the unionization efforts. You certainly didn't go walking through every single possible infraction to come up with excuses to fire them because that would be wrong and highly illegal too.
Re: (Score:3)
Of course. After all, wouldn't "leaking company secrets" constitute discussing unionization with unions? Sounds like corporate spin to me.
talking about working hours on union chat is compa (Score:2)
talking about working hours on union chat is company secrets
Re: (Score:1)
Sure he/she (rsilvergun) is a douche... but in this instance the article does say the discord board was about labor and organized labor.