Fired Rockstar workers ‘should be supported by the council’

Late last month, 31 employees at the Edinburgh branch of games company Rockstar were sacked.

The firm says he was dismissed for ‘distributing and discussing confidential information in a public forum’, and that the dismissal was not related to trade union organizing.

A union representing the workers involved says this was due to their organizing efforts.

Green councilor Dan Heap has tabled a motion at next week’s Fair Work Committee meeting calling on the council to support staff.

He wants council staff to provide workers with information about their welfare entitlements, and to apply for the relevant financial assistance that may be available to them.

Additionally, their motion calls for the leader of the council to write to the firm expressing concerns about staff being removed from their roles and asking them to reinstate them.

The Independent Workers Union of Great Britain, the union representing some staff at the Edinburgh site, launched legal action over the dismissals earlier this month.

The employees who were removed have said they believe their dismissal was related to a server on the messaging platform Discord, where they say the trade union event took place.

He says the server was invite-only, and it was an environment that should be protected under trade union law.

A discussion of the company’s policy on servers may have influenced the firm’s decision, according to a report published Monday by trade publication People Make Games.

The company, including staff from the Edinburgh office, is currently working on the next installment of the Grand Theft Auto video game franchise, which is scheduled for release next November.

Rockstar owner Take-Two Interactive has been contacted for comment.

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