It’s official: After Rockstar brass suggested earlier this month that they’d be open to letting workers have a union if they really wanted one, workers and the company have hashed out a voting period. Should a sufficient number give the motion a thumbs up, the developer of the biggest video game on the planet will finally have a union.
In a statement received by Aftermath, IWGB, the union that has been helping Rockstar workers organize and hold the company accountable after 31 workers were fired seemingly in relation to organizing activity last year, said that the vote is set to take place from November 12-26. (GTA VI comes out on November 19.)
The agreement being voted upon, the union added, will “grant workers a say over issues including pay and bonuses, overtime, redundancies, flexible working, and generative AI policies.”
“For me, this vote comes down to ensuring employees at Rockstar get honesty and openness surrounding the decisions that affect them,” Rockstar union committee member Shanti Easton-Steel said in the statement. “When management choices are kept hidden, we can’t properly address issues like the gender pay gap, the uneven and ever-changing policies on overtime pay, or the concerns many co-workers hold around job security post-release.”
Everything is coming to a head at once, with the ongoing legal proceedings around whether or not last year’s firings constituted union busting set to conclude on November 18.
“This is our moment to secure a window onto the decisions that shape our lives, and a seat at the table to improve them,” said Easton-Steel. “I’m immensely proud of the games Rockstar gives its fans—I want to be equally proud of the voice Rockstar gives its staff.”
You can’t talk a big game about handcrafting everything while mistreating the people responsible
AftermathNathan Grayson
