UK trade union Independent Workers’ Union of Great Britain (IWGB) has responded once again in the continuing war of words with GTA 6 developer Rockstar, this time describing the studio’s latest statement, on its controversial firing of 34 employees, as an attempt to “reverse engineer a rationale for the dismissals.”
The IWGB’s statement comes after several back-and-forth claims between the two parties. Rockstar’s own, most recent response, issued yesterday, saw the studio claim the employees in question had “distributed and discussed confidential information (including specific game features from upcoming and unannounced titles) in a public forum, in breach of company policy and their legal obligations,” and that “claims that these dismissals were linked to union membership or activities are entirely false and misleading.”
That in turn came after a report from People Make Games in late November, which claimed the workers were fired for conversations which took place on an invite-only Discord server for employees and IWGB union members. Most conversations held there were focused on salaries, bonuses, and other HR issues, the report said – topics protected by the Equality Act of 2010 and relevant to the union members.
The employees were initially fired for what Rockstar called “gross misconduct”, before it was then accused of union busting and subjected to a lawsuit from the IWGB.
The IWGB’s latest full response reads:
“Rockstar’s latest statement is littered with falsehoods and disinformation – they have given multiple, conflicting reasons to explain why the workers were fired, as if attempting to reverse engineer a rationale for the dismissals. Once again, they have chosen to mischaracterise workers speaking about their working conditions in a private forum as “leaking information”. It is hard to understand this statement as anything but a desperate attempt to deflect from the global scrutiny they have come under over the last month. From the UK Prime Minister in the House of Commons, to the game developers across the world erupting in protest – all eyes are on Rockstar and their lawless attack on the people who make them their billions.”
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The likely trigger for this statement from Rockstar – which had previously refused to comment on the People Make Games report – and the ensuing IWGB response is UK Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer mentioning the situation in parliament earlier this week. There, he called the firing of Rockstar’s employees “deeply concerning” and promised MPs would look into it.
“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,” Starmer said. It was the second time the issue had come up in UK parliament, after it was raised by Christine Jardine, Liberal Democrat Member of Parliament for Edinburgh West, back in November.
Notably, the UK’s Labour government had made workers rights a key part of its election manifesto, and is currently aiming to push its flagship employment rights bill through the House of Lords. That context places an additional spotlight on Rockstar, while in the last month protests have taken place both in the UK and abroad in support of the fired Rockstar staff.