Summary
Rockstar Games have issued a statement making clear they’re sticking to their guns, as the final hearing in the legal battle between them and a group of former staff they fired last year begins. The hearing’s set to run from today, September 10th, until at least October 15th. The Independent Workers’ union of Great Britain (IWGB) and fired staff re-emphasised their stance earlier this week, announcing they’d be hosting a rally ouside the tribunal venue this morning. “Rockstar Games’ position has been clear and consistent throughout,” a spokesperson for the GTA 6 company said in a fresh statement issued to IGN. “Individuals across the UK and Canada were dismissed for gross misconduct following the sharing of confidential company information, not because of alleged trade union membership or activity. We reject the claims and will defend them vigorously before the tribunal.” The 34 former Rockstar staffers were fired in November last year, with discussion of a new company Slack policy in a union-run Discord server reportedly being at the centre of their dismissals. As indicated in Rockstar’s latest statement, the firm have sought to justify the firings by accusing the staff of leaking “confidential information on a public forum”. The IWGB have in turn accused Rockstar of being motivated by union busting in letting the devs go. In June, an employment tribunal ruled that the fired developers would be able to bring claims of blacklisting against Rockstar during this final hearing, as part of their argument. The hearing’s taking place at Glasgow Tribunals Centre in Scotland. The union will be seeking to have the tribunal rule that the workers’ dismissals were unfair, which could mean Rockstar are ordered to reinstate them or provide them with compensation. Rockstar, naturally, will be pushing to have the ruling back up that the company were within their rights to act as they did in firing the staff. “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,” IWGB Union member and former Rockstar staffer Jason Lewis said in a union press release earlier this week. “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.” The fired devs have asked supporters to back them by buying specially-designed union t-shirts rather than boycotting GTA 6, with proceeds going towards their “Fighting Fund”. Meanwhile, remaining Rockstar devs have formed the Rockstar Games Workers Union and are currently seeking recognition from the company prior to GTA 6’s console release in November. Read this next
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