Rockstar’s firing of over 30 employees has reached the Prime Minister, who has pledged to investigate allegations of union busting.
While most people have been mourning the recent GTA 6 delay, until November next year, developer Rockstar has been embroiled in an entirely different issue over the past few months.
At the end of October, Rockstar fired between 30 and 40 employees working on the game. The developer claimed they were sacked for ‘gross misconduct, and for no other reason’, but the Independent Workers’ Union of Great Britain (IWGB) accused them of union busting, with the affected employees allegedly either already in a union or trying to organise one.
In a Bloomberg report last month, Rockstar claimed the fired individuals were ‘distributing and discussing confidential information in a public forum’ against company policy. However, this has been disputed by the IWGB.
Over 200 employees at Rockstar North have since condemned the firing in a letter to management, with protests taking place across London, Paris, and Edinburgh.
The issue previously made its way to Parliament last month, and now it’s cropped up again today (December 10) thanks to Edinburgh East and Musselburgh Labour MP Chris Murray.
Speaking in Parliament during Prime Minister’s Questions, Murray said: ‘The video games company Rockstar in my constituency last month fired 31 employees without providing evidence or union representation.
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‘The IWGB alleges union busting. Having met Rockstar they failed to reassure me they are following employment law and I share concerns about union busting.’
He added: ‘Given this government is responsible for the biggest increase in workers rights in a generation, does the Prime Minister agree all companies regardless of profit size must follow UK employment law and all workers have the right to join a union?’
In response, Prime Minister Keir Starmer vowed to investigate the issue, and described it as ‘deeply concerning’.
‘It’s a deeply concerning case,’ Starmer said. ‘Every worker has the right to join a trade union and we’re determined to strengthen workers rights and ensure they don’t face unfair consequences for being part of a union. Our ministers will look into the particular case that he [Murray] raises and will keep him updated.’
GameCentral has reached out to Rockstar for comment.
Last month, the IWGB filed a legal claim against Rockstar, deeming the dismissal of employees as ‘trade union victimisation and blacklisting’.
In a statement at the time, the IWGB said: ‘We are representing employees who were dismissed by Rockstar Games in circumstances that we believe amount to victimisation and collective dismissal linked to trade union activity.
‘Despite our representation and attempts to meet with Rockstar to resolve the matter through negotiation, Rockstar have declined and persisted to terminate members of the union in a manner that is unacceptable and unlawful. Accordingly, we have now issued formal legal claims against Rockstar on behalf of the Claimants.
‘Our members allege that Rockstar’s conduct constitutes trade union victimisation and blacklisting.’
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