At the end of October, Rockstar fired over 30 employees at Rockstar North in the United Kingdom and contended that they were let go over “gross misconduct.” The Grand Theft Auto developer has since been accused of union busting, since many of the fired devs were either members of the Independent Workers’ Union of Great Britain or organizing for it. Now, the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, Keir Starmer, and a member of Parliament, are keeping up the pressure on Rockstar.
“It’s a deeply concerning case,” said Starmer. “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 the member raises and will keep him updated.”
The case was brought up by Edinburgh East and Musselburgh MP, Chris Murray, who met with Rockstar on behalf of the workers. Murray noted that Rockstar initially refused to meet with him unless an NDA was signed, but the company relented following his refusal. Murray also stated that he was unconvinced by Rockstar’s account of the firings.
“Rockstar fired 31 employees without providing evidence or union representation,” said Murray. “The IWGB alleges union busting. Having met Rockstar, they failed to reassure me they are following law and I share concerns about union busting … The meeting only entrenched my concerns about the process Rockstar used to dismiss so many of their staff members. I was not assured their process paid robust attention to UK employment law, I was not convinced that this course of action was necessary, and alarmingly, I did not leave informed on exactly what these 31 people had done to warrant their immediate dismissal.”
A subsequent report suggested that Rockstar fired the devs over messages on Discord about the company’s revised internal Slack policies. Over 200 Rockstar employees have demanded that the fired devs be reinstated, and there have been multiple protests at Rockstar offices in support of the workers. For now, the issue remains unresolved.