We finally have a date for when Rockstar Games employees will come to a vote that will decide whether or not they’ll recognize their developer union, which could become the largest recognized union of its sort.
Rockstar employees will go to vote in the window from Nov. 12 to Nov. 26. This vote could result in the company formally acknowledging the Rockstar Game Workers Union to negotiate matters related to all employee-related matters.
Interestingly, GTA 6 famously releases on November 19th, while the vote is still taking place, a development that will certainly further turn up the heat on the event.
This is a huge deal for many reasons. Currently, the largest video game workers’ union in the United States is Activision’s Quality Assurance United-CWA, which represents 600 QA workers, followed by ZeniMax Workers United, representing 300 QA workers across many of ZeniMax’s divisions. The Independent Workers’ Union of Great Britain (IWGB Game Workers Union) is the largest democratic union of video game developers in the UK and Europe, representing over 2,000 members across more than 80 studios. Currently, Rockstar Games employs over 4,700 people, meaning that this vote could bring about the creation of the biggest video game trade union in existence.
It’s also huge because we’re learning about the vote while Rockstar battles the aforementioned IWGB Game Workers Union in court over the infamous firing of 31 employees that the company deems liable for the GTA 6 leaks. IWGB, however, defends that Rockstar’s firing was unfair and showed a clear attempt at union busting. We’ll learn the court’s decision on that matter on November 19, yet another event contributing to GTA 6 becoming the biggest event in the history of entertainment.
Whether Rockstar’s firing of those employees was justified or not, the company is no stranger to allegations of workplace malfeasance, which reached a fever pitch shortly before the release of Red Dead Redemption 2. We haven’t heard any such stories about the development of GTA 6, but there’s no such thing as enough safety in the workplace.
Though I doubt Rockstar is keen on having to recognize its workers’ union, Jennifer Kolbe, its head of publishing, has stated, “We go where the team goes. So if they want a union, they will have a union.”
We’ll have the results of the unprecedented vote by November 26, and I’m waiting for them just as eagerly as I’m waiting for the actual release of Grand Theft Auto 6.
