Edinburgh-based GTA VI developer Rockstar North faces first day of unfair dismissal tribunal
The tribunal against the billion dollar games studio centres around accusations employees were fired in an attempt at “union bashing”
Former employees of Edinburgh-based Rockstar North have begun an employment tribunal, claiming they were unfairly dismissed while working on the upcoming video game Grand Theft Auto VI.
A group of former employees are claiming they were unfairly dismissed from the companies’ Rockstar North studio on Holyrood Road for trade union activities.
They are being represented by the Independent Workers’ Union of Great Britain (IWGB) union.
Some 34 people are believed to have been dismissed in October last year and 23 are taking part in the employment tribunal.
Rockstar has said it will vigorously contest the tribunal and accused the ex-employees of breaching the company’s confidentiality rules by discussing sensitive information on a Discord server.
Grand Theft Auto VI, the latest instalment in the popular video game series, is due for release on November 19. Pre-orders of the game are already thought to have been worth hundreds of millions.
On Thursday, the video games workers’ employment tribunal against Rockstar began in Glasgow, with legal discussion taking place in private in the morning.
Lawyers for the claimants are expected to allege that workers were unlawfully blacklisted and targeted for their union activities.
The union has said the workers were part of a private Discord channel and were dismissed on October 30 last year.
Take Two Interactive, which publishes the video game, has said the workers were dismissed for “gross misconduct”. Rockstar has also said the employees were dismissed for sharing confidential information, rather than trade union activity.
Ahead of the hearing on Thursday, the video games workers and supporters held a rally outside the Glasgow Tribunals Centre.
Jason Lewis, former Rockstar employee and IWGB Union member, said earlier: “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.”
A spokesperson for the video games developer said: “Rockstar Games’ position has been clear and consistent throughout.
“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.”