'Grand Theft Auto' Studio Says Fired Employees Were Leaking Information (msn.com) 32
Rockstar Games, the company behind the hit Grand Theft Auto franchise, said that the dozens of employees it fired last week were leaking company secrets, disputing allegations by labor leaders that it was disrupting workers' attempt to unionize. From a report: The employees had been sharing company information in a forum that included non-employees, a Rockstar spokesperson said in a statement to Bloomberg on Wednesday. "Last week, we took action against a small number of individuals who were found to be distributing and discussing confidential information in a public forum, a violation of our company policies," the spokesperson said. "This was in no way related to people's right to join a union or engage in union activities."
The company, part of Take-Two Interactive Software, fired between 30 and 40 employees across offices in the UK and Canada for what it said was "gross misconduct." The Independent Workers' Union of Great Britain, the first to organize video-game workers in the UK, told Bloomberg that the employees had all been involved with union efforts at Rockstar, calling the firings "one of the most blatant and ruthless acts of union busting in the history of the games industry."
Sure Jan (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Sure Jan (Score:4, Informative)
talking about working hours on union chat is compa (Score:2)
talking about working hours on union chat is company secrets
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Re: talking about working hours on union chat is c (Score:2)
"Most countries" don't matter, it matters in the country these workers live and work in...
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Sure he/she (rsilvergun) is a douche... but in this instance the article does say the discord board was about labor and organized labor.
There are leaks and there are leaks (Score:3, Informative)
1. There are times companies know someone is leaking and deliberately look the other way, either because the leak itself is useful, future leaks by this person are useful, or the person is too highly valued to take action against. "Off the record, our next game is going to have an exciting new character that will blow your socks off, stay tuned."
2. Then there are leaks that are so harmful to a company that action must be taken. "Here's the entire source code for our next game, including trade secrets worth billions."
3. But in between there are many leaks that are usually "not worth dealing with" until you need to use the leak as an excuse to fire someone.
We'll never know if these leaks are really in category #2 or category #3.
My hunch is that at least one of the fired employees was targeted for firing and possibly one or more were "caught up" in the firing because "if we fire one leaker from that forum, we have to fire them all or we'll be sued." This is just a hunch, I have no actual information to say if my hunch is right or not.
in the UK the employment tribunal may have an say (Score:3)
in the UK the employment tribunal may have an say.
Also can they say talking about working hours on union chat is company secrets and that lets us fire people?
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The fired employees have a better chance of prevailing in the UK, if the firing was a ruse due to the "Just Cause" employment standard.
In the USA, not so much: Employment-at-will: "You can be fired for any reason or no reason so long as it is not an illegal reason. This "cloud of ambiguity" pretty much allows any company to part ways with an employee provided there's enough of of a documentation trail to ensure the firing wasn't for an illegal reason. Also, pre-dispute arbitration clauses in employment pape
Re: There are leaks and there are leaks (Score:2)
I've been working in cybersecurity for seven years now, across three companies, and I've yet to see any kind of purposeful leak that we've simply tolerated.
Re: There are leaks and there are leaks (Score:2)
Of course we know, because we don't see the source tree to the next GTA game posted anywhere, do we?
Finance (Score:5, Informative)
Re:Finance (Score:5, Insightful)
Here is a real conversation I had with someone about a union at a grocery store:
THEM: The union at my work is useless! They promote people that shouldn't be promoted based on senority!
ME: If you don't like the way your grocery store runs, why don't you go to work at another grocery store?
THEM: I can't possibly live on what all the other grocery stores pay!
And therein lies the usefulness of unions. Already so many corporations pay people bottom dollar that they cannot live and they cannot pay taxes to support their own government services. Unions are the only thing that is saving us from a job market that is mostly minimum wage jobs that no one can live on.
Re:Finance (Score:5, Insightful)
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Unions are best for contractors working on projects or other term limited employment. The loyalty is to the trade, not the client. Amazon had *employees* trying to organize. Foolish.
Re: Finance (Score:1)
Well, i suspect the union was brought in to raise worker pay and benefits, which could make a facility no longer cost-effective...
Just saying, i doubt the unions were trying to figure out ways to reduce labor costs...
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makeing talking about pay as violation of our comp (Score:1)
makeing talking about pay as violation of our company policies is not allowed as the is anti union
Re: Unsurprising (Score:1, Interesting)
At least Rockstar have generated some value 'themselves' compared to the union which presumably generates value by capturing large proportions of the employees from companies then extorting the companies.
Yes, I'm aware that this isn't the way unions are presented but if we could somehow extract the true motivations of union leaders, would we find a desire to fix the power balance between employees and employers or is that simply a claim used to attract a block of, what are essentially troops in a financial
Another point for Goat Simulator (Score:2)
Private forum or Public forum? (Score:2)
Also, union busting tactics are disgusting.