Rockstar Games fired between 30 and 40 employees in the UK and Canada, sparking accusations of union-busting

GTA 6 developer, Rockstar Games, has been accused of retaliating against its employees involved in union organizing, according to the Independent Workers’ Union of Great Britain (IWGB). Across the global gaming industry, more studios are seeing workers’ demand for rights to form unions, especially after years of criticism over “crunch” periods often required to meet production ￰0￱ Games is now facing allegations that it does not support employee demands for organized ￰1￱ Games accused of deliberately targeting union efforts Rockstar Games , the studio behind the Grand Theft Auto series, is facing allegations of union-busting after it fired dozens of employees across its UK and Canadian ￰2￱ to the Independent Workers’ Union of Great Britain (IWGB), the game developer abruptly dismissed between 30 and 40 workers on Thursday in what the union describes as a deliberate attempt to disrupt efforts to form a union inside the ￰3￱ union referred to the company’s actions as one of the most “blatant and ruthless” acts of union busting in the gaming ￰4￱ Marshall, the president of the IWGB, said the studio’s actions showed “flagrant contempt for the law and for the lives of the workers who bring in their billions.” He also criticized Rockstar and its parent company, Take-Two Interactive, for showing disregard toward their employees and the gaming community that supports their ￰5￱ representatives are urging an investigation into the dismissals because they believe the timing and scale of the layoffs are suspicious and don’t seem to be for valid ￰6￱ IWGB is reportedly exploring legal means to get the dismissals ￰7￱ a statement, the IWGB said that a major company like Rockstar getting away with antagonizing union organizers sends a “chilling message to workers everywhere who want to organize for fair treatment.” Take-Two denies accusations Rockstar’s parent company, Take-Two Interactive Software Inc., denied all of IWGB’s ￰8￱ company insists that the layoffs were due to “gross misconduct” by the employees and not related to any union activities, but it has so far failed to provide any details of the supposed ￰9￱ Lewis, a spokesperson for Take-Two, said the company “fully supports Rockstar’s ambitions and approach.” Despite the backlash, Rockstar has not indicated any plans to reverse the ￰10￱ isn’t the first time Rockstar has faced employee relations ￰11￱ early 2024, the company was heavily criticized for asking workers to return to the office five days a ￰12￱ IWGB criticized that decision, saying it ignored workers’ well-being and family ￰13￱ defended the return-to-office directive as a necessary step to beef up security after a major leak revealed dozens of video footage from the unfinished Grand Theft Auto VI in ￰14￱ is still preparing to release the highly anticipated Grand Theft Auto VI video games on May 26, ￰15￱ a premium crypto trading community free for 30 days - normally $100/mo.