UK-Based Rockstar Games North Workers Formally Announce Union (aftermath.site)
- Reference: 0183487896
- News link: https://games.slashdot.org/story/26/05/31/0227212/uk-based-rockstar-games-north-workers-formally-announce-union
- Source link: https://aftermath.site/rockstar-games-workers-union-public-announcement/
> The union [part of the wider Independent Workers of Great Britain (IWGB) union] includes workers from Rockstar Games offices in Leeds, London, Edinburgh, Dundee, and Lincoln, the Rockstar Games Workers Union said in [2]a YouTube video published on Thursday ... Last year, [3]Rockstar Games employees told Aftermath that the company's insistence on return-to-office policies was a problem for many workers.
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> Rockstar Games, for its part, claimed the policies were related to productivity and security concerns... The video posted Thursday outlines what happened over the past several months, starting with the firing of more than 30 Rockstar Games employees in October 2025 for what the company said was "discussing confidential information in a public forum," a Rockstar Games spokesperson [4]said in a statement to Bloomberg in November . The union [5]disagreed : It said at the time that the workers were gathered in a private Discord server with employees and union organizers — the beginnings of the union announced Thursday. The IWGB is [6]working to fight the firings in court .
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> Workers and outside union supporters [7]gathered globally after the employees were fired , in front of Rockstar Games' offices, to protest what the union called union busting by Rockstar Games... "We believe the [firings] were unlawful and retaliatory — connected to the workers' collective activity of organizing at Rockstar," IWGB Game Workers Union co-founder Austin Kelmore [8]told Aftermath at the time . "This action by Rockstar came shortly after reaching 10 percent of eligible workers at Rockstar in the union...." [10% is the threshhold for legal recognition by the U.K. government.] The workers have received support from government officials; in December, UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer [9]called the firings of the unionizing workers "a deeply concerning case."
[1] https://aftermath.site/rockstar-games-workers-union-public-announcement/
[2] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iLOq_6rOpoM&ref=aftermath.site
[3] https://aftermath.site/rockstar-return-to-office-grand-theft-auto-vi-crunch/
[4] https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2025-11-05/-grand-theft-auto-studio-says-fired-employees-were-leaking-information
[5] https://aftermath.site/grand-theft-auto-vi-delay-union-protest-rockstar/
[6] https://www.gamedeveloper.com/business/rockstart-hit-with-legal-claims-by-iwgb-over-firing-of-unionizing-workers
[7] https://aftermath.site/grand-theft-auto-6-rockstar-fired-workers-protest-nyc/
[8] https://aftermath.site/grand-theft-auto-vi-delay-union-protest-rockstar/
[9] https://www.gamedeveloper.com/business/uk-prime-minister-promises-to-look-into-rockstar-s-firing-of-workers
It always puzzled me... (Score:2)
... why unions aren't much more common among technology workers. Especially given what you hear about the videogame industry in particular, with that mad 'crunch time' culture in which workers are ruthlessly, well, crunched. I'd always ask, well, what does your union say about it? And what do you know, there isn't one, how about that.
Nice to hear of some progress being made, then. I suppose the risk with this for the rest of us is that GTA 6 might be late to release, but, uh, at this point I think we're ove
Re: (Score:2)
Gamers are a fickle bunch and speaking as someone from inside the industry there are still some that can be very mouthy and entitled when they dont get what they want. Larger companies with public IPO also have the press to deal with - bad news affects share price. There are certain dates throughout the year eg : christmas , easter and other public holidays where new updates and releases are expected. Things cant go out the door buggy, and if they do the punters get upset and the press report it. If feature
Re: It always puzzled me... (Score:2)
That's ok I'm still on San Andreas.
Re: It always puzzled me... (Score:2)
A modern version of GTA London would be the absolute dream. Been long enough now, you could set it in the nineties and have the same retro value to it!
IWGB helped me. (Score:4, Interesting)
Just chiming in - I went through a year long ideal , also in the games industry i worked for the company in the UK that make a well known space exploration and trading game. Id been there nearly 11 yrs. Covid and lockdowns provided a stock surge 10x the current price. When the bubble broke they had a management reshuffle - and shed over 200 people. Similar problems with the return to work policy also. I can only assume that since id been there so long the payout would have been quite sizeable - thats when they tried to sideline me and bully me out - I fought them with IWGB for over a year, there were discrimination issues due to my disablity which they were exploiting. IWGB helped me get a settlement, i could have got more but the year long fight burned me out (im still in burnout) and i couldnt stick it any longer to take it to a tribunal. Just wanna say - even if your company doesnt officially recognise unions , you are still legally protected and if you find yourself in an unfair situation its well worth having them by your side - you are entitled to have them represent you in any meetings and there isnt much your employer can do about it.