ROCKSTAR Games, the studio behind Grand Theft Auto, will appear before the Glasgow Employment Tribunal this week amid an ongoing legal battle.
The battle, which is with the Independent Workers of Great Britain (IWGB) Union, follows the dismissal of 31 GTA VI workers in October last year.
At the time of their dismissals, the former employees say they had been working on Grand Theft Auto VI, which is set to be one of the biggest gaming releases of the year.
They say that on the day of the dismissals, employees at the office were called into meetings, told they were being fired with immediate effect and escorted from the building. Workers who were not at the office say they were informed during phone calls lasting around two minutes before being locked out of their work accounts.
The dismissals prompted protests outside the offices of Rockstar's parent company Take-Two Interactive in London, Paris and New York.
The dismissed workers have since asked supporters not to boycott GTA VI, but to contribute to their legal fund instead, which is helping cover the considerable costs of bringing the case to tribunal.The workers have raised funds by selling t-shirts featuring designs created as part of the campaign, with support from gaming influencers and Scottish MPs.
During the upcoming hearing, which will run from September 10 until October 16, the union will allege that workers were unlawfully blacklisted and targeted for their union activities. They will also allege that the manner in which they were dismissed - without disciplinary process or right of appeal - was also unlawful.
Rockstar has said the employees were dismissed over messages posted in a private union Discord channel which it claims breached their confidentiality agreements.
The union has denied this and maintains that the dismissals were an attack on the workers' union activity.
The workers are seeking reinstatement or, failing that, compensation, as well as a finding from the tribunal that their dismissals were unfair.
The legal battle is taking place alongside ongoing negotiations between Rockstar and the IWGB over formal union recognition. If an agreement is reached, Rockstar would become the biggest recognised unionised game studio in the UK. Workers hope to secure recognition before the release of GTA VI.
Jason Lewis, former Rockstar employee and IWGB Union member, said: “For almost a year, the truth about what happened to us has been buried by Rockstar and surrounded by speculation. Now we finally get the chance to put it on the record.
"None of us imagined that talking to each other about our working conditions would turn our lives upside down and catapult us into the centre of a global media storm.
"As the world prepares for the release of GTA VI, we are reliving the heartbreak of being thrown out of a project we poured so much of our lives into. We lost our jobs, our income, our community and the chance to see the game through to release after spending years helping to build it. It was devastating.
"We have fought tooth and nail to get to this point, not just to be able to win justice for ourselves, but to draw a line in the sand for any employer that thinks it can attack workers for unionising. It has been an emotional journey and it is not over yet, but we can now see the finish line, and justice at last feels within reach.”
Alex Marshall, president of the IWGB Union, added: “We believe Rockstar has tried to get away with Grand Theft Employment Rights. After a year of fighting to get answers, we hope this tribunal will finally back them into a corner and bring the truth to light. As the world gets its first proper look at GTA VI, this hearing will give people a chance to look behind the scenes at what happened to the workers who helped make it.
"That is why this hearing matters for every worker across the UK, whether their job is in entertainment, education or anywhere else. It is a moment to send a clear message to each of them: you have the right to join a union, that right is protected by law, and employers cannot punish you for exercising it.
"If Rockstar can get away with firing workers for organising, then every employer in Britain gets the message that they can do the same. We cannot let that happen."
