A cohort of UK-based employees at Grand Theft Auto VI developer Rockstar Games have asked the studio to voluntarily recognize their union.
The Rockstar Game Workers Union (RGWU) was established under the Independent Workers Union of Great Britain (IWGB) earlier this year.
Workers in the United Kingdom have the right to organize and join a union without interference, but the IWGB has stressed that formal recognition will give members additional protections and rights while opening formal channels for collective bargaining with management.
RGWU intends to bargain over crucial issues including pay transparency, flexible working, and crunch.
The push for recognition comes amid an ongoing legal despite between the IWGB and Rockstar, which has been accused of firing 31 employees in direct retaliation for engaging in trade union activity. Rockstar denies those allegations and claims it fired those workers for leaking confidential information.
An IWGB spokesperson told Game Developer that Rockstar now has 10 working days to respond to the union’s request for voluntary recognition.
If successful, the move would make Rockstar the second UK studio with a recognised union—following in the footsteps of Disco Elysium developer ZA/UM. Rockstar employees have explained they unionized to “protect” the company and its workforce.
“Rockstar leads the industry in the games we create. We believe it can also lead the industry in how it treats the people who make them,” said Josh Walter, a Senior QA tester at Rockstar’s office in Lincoln.
“There is so much that is special about the studio and the work we put out. We want to protect that. When people are confronted with pay disparities, excessive overtime or a lack of flexibility in arrangements, they are not in the best position to do their best work. We want to sit down with management and build a future where both the games and the conditions of the people who make them are as strong as possible.”