Interview: Former Rockstar Worker Explains Union Busting Trial

Right as we approach the release of Grand Theft Auto 6, Rockstar finds itself in court with its own former employees. Last year, 34 workers across Rockstar - 31 in the UK, 3 in Canada - were suddenly dismissed. They claimed this was an act of union busting, firing select employees to sabotage organisation efforts within the studio. Rockstar claims these individuals were let go for sharing confidential information with people outside of the studio, in a Discord server used for unionisation efforts. These workers had no recourse, and say they were let go suddenly and without explanation. This has driven them to fight through any means that they have - protesting outside of the studio, and now, challenging their dismissals in court. As former Rockstar network programmer Rachel Crawford tells me, this is not the position these workers wanted to be in. “It's been very difficult and very tiring,” Crawford - who was among the 31 workers in Scotland dismissed last year - states. “This could have all just been, as far as I'm concerned, a conversation that took place behind closed doors and was sorted out. It didn't have to be this enormous public spectacle that is draining for everyone involved.” Indeed, the past year has seen Rockstar and the union go back and forth with their arguments, which are now being heard in an employment tribunal. But for Crawford and the other 33 workers who lost their jobs, their professional lives are at stake, as they fight to get their jobs back at a time when the gaming industry is incredibly volatile. The Timeline Of Events Image provided by Rockstar Games and Spotify. Crawford and her 33 colleagues were dismissed for “gross misconduct” back in October of last year. This news was publicised by the IWGB, with the union’s president Alex Marshall describing it as the “most blatant and ruthless act of union busting in the history of the games industry.” Days later, Rockstar issued a statement, refuting these claims. "We took action against a small number of individuals who were found to be distributing and discussing confidential information in a public forum, a violation of our company policies," the statement read. “This was in no way related to people's right to join a union or engage in union activities.” Since then, Rockstar has gone on to describe these claims as “baseless”, arguing that it “did not know whether the claimants [fired workers] were union members”. At the centre of all of this is the Discord server the workers were using to discuss their workplace. It has previously been reported that emails from Rockstar were shared as internal matters were discussed in this server, which reportedly included 300+ members, among them Rockstar workers and union representatives (Rockstar claims there was also a journalist in the server). That would appear to be the alleged breach of confidentiality that Rockstar is accusing these workers of. The union maintains that any discussions within this server would have been protected under British labour laws, and that steps were in place to ensure that everyone in the server had the right to be there - i.e., no leakers. Judging from court documents (as per Game Developer), both sides agree that Rockstar had a “mole” within the server for two and a half years, who would leak information about the budding union to management. Eventually, the union says that Rockstar management was able to access the server itself. Rockstar admits that it did have access to the server, but only the “public channels”, not the ones with more advanced security. It says that this is where it found employees sharing “confidential information”. Just days after allegedly gaining access, the 34 workers were called into the office and abruptly fired. They were escorted out by security before they could tell their colleagues what had happened. “When we were dismissed, that didn't just affect us" - Rachel Crawford When this was taking place, Crawford thought of the union. “I understood that this would be a make-or-break moment for the union that I had spent seven years putting together,” she says. “If people saw what had happened and were rightfully scared by it, and it took away the message that they just shouldn’t bother with continuing to unionise, that would be it. “When we were dismissed, that didn't just affect us. It affected everyone at the company because it communicated to them that they could also be dismissed in a similar manner without being told what they had done, and just walked out of the door.” To combat this, the IWGB held demonstrations outside of Rockstar and Take-Two offices in Scotland. The union members say that their former colleagues were often surprised to learn what had happened to them. Crawford says they were kept “in the dark” by Rockstar, so she and others would explain the situation to them outside of the office. From this, those who remained at Rockstar picked up the torch and continued unionising. “They have done an absolutely stellar job of rebuilding momentum and subsequently bringing Rockstar into recognition negotiation meetings,” Crawford says. From The Picket Line To The Courtroom In practice, the workers have had to follow multiple steps to get to the place they’re in now. “There's been opportunities, attempts at reconciliation between the two sides. Those have not been successful,” Crawford explains. “It begins with a claim being made. We had a limited time window in which to do that initially, [in the] blur of the first few weeks after the dismissal. “There had been attempts made to appeal the decision through Rockstar's own internal appeals process. That took a lot longer than it was supposed to, and was ultimately unsuccessful. Not that we were expecting it to go otherwise.” Once legal proceedings were under way, there were preliminary hearings, handled by the union and its legal team. In truth, Crawford tells me that getting to trial within a year is actually incredibly quick for an employment tribunal in the UK, but it has felt like a long journey. "Apart from the nerves, we're generally feeling quite positive about our case" - Rachel Crawford “It's been a really long winding road,” she says. “It makes you realise that a lot of tribunal claims don't make it to the final hearing because people just get worn out.” That includes Crawford, who just days before we spoke, had undergone cross-examination in court. “I was extremely nervous before my cross-examination, I ended up spending almost every waking minute in the run-up to it preparing for it as much as I could,” she tells me. “Everyone else seems to be doing more or less the same. It's not something that any of us have ever been through before. It's very intimidating and quite scary.” With that said, she is glad it was done. “I found the process strangely cathartic,” she says. “Even if it's very stressful in the instance, it's such a relief to be on the other side of it.” The Path Forward Rockstar “The waiting is so draining and nerve-wracking,” Crawford says, as the trial continues. “[But] apart from the nerves, we're generally feeling quite positive about our case.” This will all hinge upon whether what was shared in the Discord server would have been protected by the workers’ rights to discuss their workplace outside of official channels. Rockstar remains adamant that this doesn’t come into play; material was shared on a device that was not protected like Rockstar’s own devices. In court, it has stressed the importance of defending itself from leaks, especially with GTA 6 on the horizon. But through it all, at the centre of all of this are people who simply want to get back to work. “Reinstatement is one of our goals of this claim,” Crawford tells me. “It becomes a bit tricky when some of us have moved on and found new jobs, but some of us would go back.” There is also the reputational damage to address here: “Bringing the truth to light and having Rockstar apologise and take back its claims would be a real victory for us.” The union members have also been clear in their request to the public: they are not calling for a boycott of GTA 6. “I'm not sure if it's universally felt, but certainly, the will of the group was that it doesn't make sense for us to call for a boycott of the product that we helped make and that our ex-colleagues and fellow union members are still helping to make,” Crawford explains. “Our success as workers and as game developers depends on people buying and enjoying the games that we make. That that's the bottom line, really. It doesn't make sense as a strategy to say ‘Please please don't buy this game that we made’, at least in this instance.” The message to Rockstar is just as clear. As we round off, Crawford tells me what she would tell Rockstar management if she could: “Recognise the union,” and, repeating a Rockstar in-joke: “Say Sorry, Be Nice.” Rockstar did not respond to our request for comment by the time of publication. Rockstar Studios Date Founded December 1, 1998 CEO Sam Houser Parent Company Take-Two Interactive Subsidiaries Rockstar North, Rockstar Lincoln, Rockstar Toronto Headquarters New York, New York, United States Known For Grand Theft Auto