#Unionisation
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vaguebiscuit.bsky.social
The whole industry needs proper unionisation the way Hollywood is unionised
November 7, 2025 at 11:57 AM
floaker.bsky.social
Solidarity to those in @gameworkers.co.uk targeted by the worst union busting the UK has seen in years. Make no mistake, the management want to squash unionisation of the games industry so workers have less job security than even today. Stay strong peeps, and know you've a lot of support out here!
November 4, 2025 at 12:52 PM
yourkyotowife.bsky.social
"Unionisation efforts just signal to employers you don’t trust them"
"Just profit share"
Have you been in the industry these past three years? Some ppl just wanna marry the boot
November 1, 2025 at 11:53 AM
ceremus.bsky.social
posting with alt text
Forum post from user Organize: Hey everyone, R* Employee of many years here! Understandably I want to remain anonymous due to retaliation from the Company, but I may be willing to verify I’m an employee with @Spider-Vice via DM (if required). I am also a member of the Union. I’ve been reading a lot of the discussion on here and elsewhere on about the firing of more than 34 of my colleagues last week (31 in the UK + 3 in Canada) and have seen a lot of disinformation and lies that are really concerning. Particularly concerning how so many folk are willing to believe the Company’s excuses. Last week, my colleagues who were in the studio were each individually messaged by HR for a short friendly meeting, under the friendly guise of “Hey, are you free for a quick chat?” Upon attending this meeting they were handed an envelope whit a short letter stating that their employment had been terminated for “gross misconduct” regarding posts made in Discord. They failed to provide any evidence when asked, nor was any stated in the letter. And did not divulge any other information or reasoning – “and no other reason” They refused their right to Union representation in the disciplinary meeting (which is against UK employment law) and were frogmarched out of the studio with the meeting lasting less than 5 minutes. For colleagues who were not in the Studio that day, they received an phone call from HR that lasted less than 2 minutes telling them they were fired and that they’d receive the same letter as above. I am aware of one employee who had a panic attack at this moment, and HR hung up on them during this panic attack not caring at all about their wellbeing. These colleagues of mine were hard workers who have spent many many years at R* in critical roles. With colleagues who have been at R* for more than 18 years and none of them have ever had a disciplinary in that time. They are not easily replaced and will certainly affect us in making our project deadlines. These are very senior artists, animators, QA testers, programmers and producers. Including Leads. All super talented people who were proud of their work over multiple R* titles, and all they wanted was the best for R* and their fellow colleagues. Some of these members were off sick, recovering form surgery or on paternity leave. Fired without pay, losing their careers and putting them into hardship in the lead up to Christmas, and even potentially losing their VISAs to work in the UK. Let me make this clear! I never saw any discussion/leaking of Rockstar projects in the Union Discord. The only ever discussion was around unionisation efforts and the working conditions at R*. The Discord wasn’t public. I twas a private Discord group that only contained R* employees and the IWGB Union officials. This was Union Busting and nothing else! Everyone fired was a Union Member, they were also predominantly from those who were on the Union Organising Committees of each UK studio. Just one week before, the Union had reached ~200 members taking us over the 10% threshold required to seek recognition and begin engaging in collective bargaining. Allowing us to negotiate directly with management on the key issues that affect us: worsening crunch, inadequate pay and inflexible working arrangements. They have fired over 34 of us now. There were over 250 of us in that Union/Employee Discord group. There is the fear that if they get away with this, they’ll have nothing stopping them from doing this again and again. Those of us who are lucky and remain for now work in fear! Fearful when talking to each other at the tea prep, fearful that we’re next in line and are easily got rid of, too scared to go outside the studio and talk to (or even acknowledge) our colleagues outside protesting in fear of reprisals. Morale in the studio is at rock bottom. When we should be excited about what’s to come. Which is the truly heartbreaking part, as for us in the Union, all of our ambition was to make R* a happier, fairer, safer, and more equitable place. That’s all. What has happened clearly shows that we care more about the wellbeing of our colleagues at Rockstar than the Company does. The union remains unbowed and is fighting to win the reinstatement of every dismissed member of staff at Rockstar through legal means and campaigning. This fight is critical, if Rockstar can get away with this, they will keep treating their workers with disdain, disrespect, and subjecting them to continued illegal treatment. Thanks for your time, and I hope this is some truth that helps you all understand what’s going on here at the moment. If you would be so kind, you can contribute to the fundraiser to support those fighting their dismissal here: https://actionnetwork.org/fundraising/support-rockstar-workers-fighting-unfair-dismissals/ It would be really appreciated if you could also share the above link. I won’t be cross posting this to other forums, but please feel free to share. Cheers x
November 7, 2025 at 7:59 AM
erawlins.bsky.social
"Neoliberalism -- is associated with programs of economic deregulation, privatisation of state-owned enterprises, massive tax cuts for businesses and high-income earners, reduction of social services and welfare programs, anti-unionisation, and the independence of monetary policy."
How the neoliberalism of ‘Hayek’s Bastards’ changed the world – and fuelled the rise of the populist right
When the Cold War came to an end, neoliberals appealed to nature in order to justify inequality.
theconversation.com
November 2, 2025 at 6:17 AM
retroali93.bsky.social
I can't even begin to put into words how awful this is. Support Unions. Join them, and spread the word about them. More and more game devs need unionisation.
jasonschreier.bsky.social Jason Schreier @jasonschreier.bsky.social · 10d
BREAKING: Yesterday Grand Theft Auto VI maker Rockstar Games fired dozens of people, all of whom were involved in union efforts. A British union calls it "blatant and ruthless" union-busting. Take-Two Interactive says it was due to misconduct.

Here's the scoop: www.bloomberg.com/news/article...
‘Grand Theft Auto’ Studio Accused of Union Busting After Firings
Union says 30 and 40 people were terminated. Rockstar Games’ parent company cites ‘gross misconduct’
www.bloomberg.com
November 1, 2025 at 8:04 AM
blazingwaters.neocities.org
shit seems bleak there fam actionnetwork.org/fundraising/...
Organize (official R* staff)'s message: Hey everyone, R* Employee of many years here! Understandably I want to remain anonymous due to retaliation from the Company, but I may be willing to verify I'm an employee with @Spider-Vice via DM (if required). I am also a member of the Union. I've been reading a lot of the discussion on here and elsewhere about the firing of more than 34 of my colleagues last week (31 in the UK + 3 in Canada) and have seen a lot of disinformation and lies that are really concerning. Particularly concerning how so many folk are willing to believe the Company's excuses. Last week, my colleagues who were in the studio were each individually messaged by HR for a short friendly meeting, under the friendly guise of "Hey, are you free for a quick chat?" Upon attending this meeting they were handed an envelope with a short letter stating that their employment had been terminated for "gross misconduct" regarding posts made in Discord. They failed to provide any evidence when asked, nor was any stated in the letter. And did not divulge any other information or reasoning - "and no other reason" They refused their right to Union representation in the disciplinary meeting (which is against UK employment law) and were frogmarched out of the studio with the meeting lasting less than 5 minutes. For colleagues who were not in the Studio that day, they received a phone call from HR that lasted less than 2 minutes telling them they were fired and that they'd receive the same letter as above. I am aware of one employee who had a panic attack at this moment, and HR hung up on them during this panic attack not caring at all about their wellbeing. These colleagues of mine were hard workers who have spent many many years at R* in critical roles. With colleagues who have been at R* for more that 18 years and none of them have ever had a disciplinary in that time. They are not easily replaced and will certainly affect us in making our project deadlines. These colleagues of mine were hard workers who have spent many many years at R* in critical roles. With colleagues who have been at R* for more that 18 years and none of them have ever had a disciplinary in that time. They are not easily replaced and will certainly affect us in making our project deadlines. These are very senior artists, animators, QA testers, designers, programmers and producers. Including Leads. All super talented people who were proud of their work over multiple R* titles, and all they wanted was the best for R* and their fellow colleagues. Some of these members were off sick, recovering from surgery or on paternity leave. Fired without pay, losing their careers and putting them into hardship in the lead up to Christmas, and even potentially losing their VISAs to work in the UK. Let me make this clear! I never saw any discussion/leaking of Rockstar projects in the Union Discord. The only ever discussion was around unionisation efforts and the working conditions at R*. The Discord wasn't public. It was a private Discord group that only contained R* employees and the IWGB Union officials. This was Union Busting and nothing else! Everyone fired was a Union Member, they were also predominantly from those who were on the Union Organising Committees of each UK studio. Just one week before, the Union had reached ~200 members taking us over the 10% threshold required to seek recognition and begin engaging in collective bargaining. Allowing us to negotiate directly with management on the key issues that affect us: worsening crunch, inadequate pay and inflexible working arrangements. They have fired over 34 of us now. There were over 250 of us in that Union/Employee Discord group. There is the fear that if they get away with this, they'll have nothing stopping them from doing this again and again. Those of us who are lucky and remain for now work in fear! Fearful when talking to each other at the tea prep, fearful that we're next in line and are easily got rid of, too scared to go outside the studio and talk to (or even acknowledge) our colleagues outside protesting in fear of reprisals. Morale in the studio is at rock bottom. When we should be excited about what's to come over the next year we are now totally deflated and our trust and confidence in others is totally shot. Which is the truly heartbreaking part, as for us in the Union, all of our ambition was to make R* a happier, fairer, safer and more equitable place. That's all. What has happened clearly shows that we care more about the wellbeing of our colleagues at Rockstar than the Company does. The union remains unbowed and is fighting to win the reinstatement of every dismissed member of staff at Rockstar through legal means and campaigning. This fight is critical, if Rockstar can get away with this, they will keep treating their workers with disdain, disrespect, and subjecting them to continued illegal treatment. Thanks for your time, and I hope this is some truth that helps you all understand what's going on here at the moment. I you would be so kind, you can contribute to the fundraiser to support those fighting their dismissal here: https://actionnetwork.org/fundraising/support-rockstar-workers-fighting-unfair-dismissals/ It would be really appreciated if you could also share the above link. I won’t be cross posting this to other forums, but please feel free to share. Cheers x
November 7, 2025 at 1:10 AM
itstessinadress.bsky.social
Like a week after that someone put in a complaint because I'd been discussing unionisation, and they felt bullied because it encouraged a mentality of workers vs management, & they aspired to be a manager one day, so I got fired for "workplace bullying".
Guess who was the regional manager's niece.
November 1, 2025 at 12:22 AM
belalugosisdad.bsky.social
Exactly. Encourage unionisation while seeking to draw the unions over.
October 30, 2025 at 5:33 PM
bennewbon.itch.io
I already know before I even talk to any R* union buddies what's gonna be the corpo angle on this - they'll claim this external chat group was leaking confidential game info. Leslie Benzies had similar issues with staff at BARB. The paranoia is immense. They are terrified about unionisation!
jasonschreier.bsky.social Jason Schreier @jasonschreier.bsky.social · 10d
BREAKING: Yesterday Grand Theft Auto VI maker Rockstar Games fired dozens of people, all of whom were involved in union efforts. A British union calls it "blatant and ruthless" union-busting. Take-Two Interactive says it was due to misconduct.

Here's the scoop: www.bloomberg.com/news/article...
‘Grand Theft Auto’ Studio Accused of Union Busting After Firings
Union says 30 and 40 people were terminated. Rockstar Games’ parent company cites ‘gross misconduct’
www.bloomberg.com
October 31, 2025 at 8:48 PM
bylinesnetwork.co.uk
Gaming sector workers look to unionise to protect jobs

Steps to unionisation may seem small but are key to protecting workers’ rights in the digi-tech arena

By Tony Burke

@yorkshirebylines.co.uk
Gaming sector workers look to unionise to protect jobs
Steps to unionisation may seem small but are key to protecting workers’ rights in the digi-tech arena
yorkshirebylines.co.uk
October 28, 2025 at 5:22 PM
yorkshirebylines.co.uk
✍️ Gaming sector workers look to unionise to protect jobs

Steps to unionisation may seem small but are key to protecting workers’ rights in the digi-tech arena

By Tony Burke
Gaming sector workers look to unionise to protect jobs
Steps to unionisation may seem small but are key to protecting workers’ rights in the digi-tech arena
yorkshirebylines.co.uk
October 28, 2025 at 7:52 AM
andi-mar.bsky.social
PSS: One thing that would probably actually help (and push prices up in dare I say a good way) is proper unionisation. Now that's something worth "whining" about!
October 23, 2025 at 3:58 PM
haraiva.bsky.social
getting the "my studio is uber for games" hypercapitalist guy to write my story about unionisation to inflict maximum cognitohazard to anyone who Knows
October 22, 2025 at 5:41 AM
gretayeoman.bsky.social
I know the unions are hard at work on many fronts, but I really want a mass unionisation drive amid all these protests etc.

I’m sure some unions have been growing but it seems insane not to be pushing for unionisation if we are losing other workers’ rights via legislation.
October 21, 2025 at 3:01 AM
kurtvandaele.bsky.social
This chapter, #Unionisation and #DigitalLabour, will be published in 2026 in the ‘Sage Handbook of Digital Labour’. @etui.bsky.social
It argues that #platformunionism has not yet crystallised into a dominant associational form
#PlatformEconomy #LabourStudies #FutureOfWork
October 20, 2025 at 5:53 AM
lahoare.bsky.social
Austria is bucking the pan-European trend of declining rates of unionisation.
October 17, 2025 at 6:19 AM
brusselstimes.com
In 2016, 52.4% of Belgian wage earners were union members, but by 2023, the country's unionisation rate had dropped to 39%, study shows.
Union membership down in Europe, with Belgium recording the sharpest fall
Union membership down in Europe, with Belgium recording the sharpest fall
www.brusselstimes.com
October 14, 2025 at 7:01 PM
huckfling.bsky.social
I’m (unofficially) putting together a mass unionisation campaign for @greenparty.org.uk !

DM or comment if you want to get involved!

It would include:
• a video from @zackpolanski.bsky.social telling the story of unions
• emails out to our 105k members!
• Young Greens getting young people at Uni
October 13, 2025 at 9:53 PM
mokushima.bsky.social
people with knowledge and compassion do not become right-wing - take away either one of those and they can and do

e.g. anyone with knowledge of migration, immigration, the attack on the unionisation of workers, who also actually care, will not become right-wing
October 12, 2025 at 2:07 PM
madsfs.bsky.social
#gamedev 🎮 #dkgame: We just had our #culturenight here in #denmark and I wrote about it! I was part of an exhibit at PROSA which is one of many #unions here. They provided the Game Workers Guild a space to talk about the game making process: mads.blog/culture-nigh...

#dk #unionisation #IT #tech
Culture Night 2025 | mads.blog
mads.blog
mads.blog
October 12, 2025 at 9:38 AM
gameworkersolidarity.com
#OtD 6 Oct 2023 Workers Unionise at Avalanche Studios Group https://www.gameworkersolidarity.com/action/2023-10-workers-unionise-avalanche-studios-group
Around 100 workers at Avalanche Studios Group have joined Unionen. The studio develops the Just Cause series and has around 500 employees. Workers have raised issues over benefits and proposed moving to a four-day week. The unionisation follows a public dispute between workers and management, in which a public apology was later issued by the company.
October 6, 2025 at 10:00 AM
georgeeaton.bsky.social
Miliband’s speech championed a class-conscious environmentalism.

Lengthy section on unionisation of the green energy sector (something Unite/GMB critics have pushed for).
October 1, 2025 at 11:20 AM
mommunism.bsky.social
👩‍🍳 💋
Molly Shah @mommunism.bsky.social • 2h O she/her Joined May '23 The most annoying thing about centrists is how smart they think they are while they propose policies and strategies that have failed consistently over the course of hundreds of years 9 $ 36 © 141 ••• RichyRich @yorkiesteak.bsky.social • 29m Joined Aug '24 Are the spectacular improvements in quality of life and income of the last few hundred years since the Enlightenment, not testimony to the opposite of what you're saying? 2 企 ••• Molly Shah @mommunism.bsky.so... • 10m • she/her Joined May '23 Name an improvement to quality of life that was fought for by centrists 1| 企 ••• RichyRich @yorkiesteak.bsky.social • 3m Joined Aug '24 The market economy. Freedom of expression. Freedom of information. Globalisation. Religious tolerance. Slavery abolition. Even unionisation. Molly Shah@mommunism.bsky.so... • 2m she/her • Joined May '23 thanks I needed a laugh RichyRich @yorkiesteak.bsky.social Follow Joined Aug '24 Very grown up and reasonable of you. September 30, 2025 at 10:27 AM •.• Molly Shah @mommunism.bsky.social • 1m O she/her Joined May '23 Molly Shah@mommunism.bsky.... • 2h • she/her Joined May '23 The most annoying thing about centrists is how smart they think they are while they propose policies and strategies that have failed consistently over the course of hundreds of years
September 30, 2025 at 8:30 AM
ineq-wu.bsky.social
From the INEQ archive 📂
In INEQ Research Note 2024|02, @elist.bsky.social and @lukaslehner.bsky.social analyse the relationship between unionisation, works councils, and firm performance.
📄 Find all INEQ Research Notes here: short.wu.ac.at/ineq_rn (Only in German)
#INEQ #INEQ_RN
© List & Lehner
Two graphs are shown, illustrating the trade union density and productivity or wage levels per company and economic sector
September 16, 2025 at 1:21 PM