Rockstar Workers’ Request for Temporary Pay Rejected

A UK employment tribunal has turned down a request from former Rockstar Games employees for interim pay while they await a full hearing regarding their dismissals. This follows the company’s termination of 34 employees last year, including 31 from the UK and three from Canada. The Independent Workers’ Union of Great Britain (IWGB) has accused Rockstar of attempting to undermine union activities, while Rockstar asserts that the dismissed employees were leaking confidential information in a Discord channel.

The tribunal hearing spanned two days last week. IWGB president Alex Marshall expressed confidence despite the refusal for interim relief, stating, “We’ve come out of last week’s hearing more confident than ever that a full and substantive tribunal will find Rockstar’s calculated attempt to crush a union to be not only unjust but unlawful. The fact that we were granted this hearing speaks to the strength of our case, and over the course of the two-day hearing, Rockstar consistently failed to back up claims made in the press or to refute that they acted unfairly, maliciously, and in breach of their own procedures.”

In response, a Rockstar Games spokesperson acknowledged the difficult decision to dismiss employees but maintained that their actions were justified based on the hearing’s outcome. Rockstar is currently focused on developing Grand Theft Auto VI, which has recently been pushed back from a planned May release to November 19th.