As Rockstar Games gears up for what is anticipated to be the biggest video game launch of all time this November, the company likely doesn’t need an additional lawsuit to contend with. Unfortunately for them, that’s precisely the situation they’re in, due to allegations of union-busting by laid-off employees represented by the Independent Workers Union of Great Britain (IWGB). If you’re not up to speed, the situation began last November when 34 employees were dismissed by the company.
Messages on Discord reportedly revealed the reasons for these dismissals, which the IWGB has labelled an act of anti-unionism. The case even garnered the attention of the British Prime Minister and has continued to escalate. Now, according to Game Developer, Rockstar has suffered a setback: a UK employment tribunal has ruled against the studio, thereby permitting the IWGB and former employees to bring blacklisting allegations before the court. A trial is scheduled to take place from September 10th to October 15th of this year.
The IWGB defines blacklisting as “the practice of compiling information about workers involved in union activities with the aim of discriminating against them,” as reported by Game Developer. Rockstar had sought to exclude the blacklisting claims from the proceedings to limit the scope of the trial, but the IWGB successfully opposed this move.
Unionized employees who were terminated will now be able to argue during the September/October trial that they were dismissed for participating in union activities. Ellie Dunstan, one of the dismissed employees, stated that this is a “crucial moment” for their case. “Our case will now be heard in its entirety and examined properly. The whole world will be able to see for themselves the evidence of what happened back in October,” she remarked.