UsTwoGames (Monument Valley, Assemble with Care) engage in union busting, fire union organiser.

[Tygre]

U N I O N I S E



Bafta award-winning games studio to face legal action and campaign over victimisation of trade union activist

• Multi-award winning games studio behind Monument Valley and Apple Arcade's recently launched Assemble with Care sacks senior programmer after he was questioned by management about his union activities.
• Ustwo denied him trade union representation at his disciplinary and dismissal meetings, in breach of UK law.
• Union gives Ustwo until Friday (4 October) to reverse the decision before it launches legal proceedings.

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UsTwoGames appear to have committed multiple flagrant breaches of UK law, and I hope they have the book thrown at them.

I'm glad unions like Game Workers Unite and the IWGB now exist to combat this sort of corporate malpractice. If you are not in a union, you should be.

 

[0451]

That's terrible.

 

[Triggerhappytel]

This is awful. You can't just fire people for no reason in the UK so I hope they're dragged across hot coals for this.

 

[Messofanego]

Hope they face the consequences for breaching UK laws.

After hearing about Ken Wong's abusiveness and this, seems like an awful place to work.

 

[manchego obfuscator]

ustwo's response, FWIW, not that I buy it.



dunno if playing Assemble With Care actually gets the studio any additional money or if it's all upfront, but this makes me a lot less inclined to play it

 

[Tygre]

More details from The Guardian:

Internal emails show executives complained that Kelmore was "spending too much time on diversity programmes" and "always putting leadership figures on the spot".

Kelmore, who is chair of Games Workers of the UK (GWU), is alleged to have been informed in late September that he would be put on gardening leave and then dismissed. This is alleged to have happened a few weeks after he was asked by a senior manager about his union activity and just after he had invited a group of Ustwo employees to a meeting to discuss rights at work.

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In an internal email from October 2018, the human resources department at Ustwo criticised Kelmore for spending time on "company feedback, diversity schemes and working practices" and said he "puts leadership … on the spot".

The email continued: "It feels that Austin is a self-appointed bastion of change and sometimes speaks on behalf of others."

It added: "The studio runs as a collective 'we' rather than leadership v employees, which may have been Austin's experience in the past, but it's not how things are here."

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Basically: You can be in a union, just don't do any of the things being in a union entails, like promoting diversity or challenging authority.

 

[Gradon]

I saw that this morning on Twitter.
Yeah that's definitely illegal in the UK.

 

[Cyanity]

Big oof at that response.

 

[elenarie]

What the hell... That's insane. Hopefully there will be some repercussions for the company.

 

[Minky]

A big yikes and I sure am glad I don't work for them. Extremely bad look

 

[FliX]

U N I O N I S E



Bafta award-winning games studio to face legal action and campaign over victimisation of trade union activist


UsTwoGames appear to have committed multiple flagrant breaches of UK law, and I hope they have the book thrown at them.

I'm glad unions like Game Workers Unite and the IWGB now exist to combat this sort of corporate malpractice. If you are not in a union, you should be.

Click to shrink...

That is an utterly disgusting image.

[edit]
wait did ustwogames make that image or did GWU?

 

[Error 52]

That is an utterly disgusting image.

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I don't think that's UsTwo that put that image together

 

[Shining Star]

Them two?

 

[loneliestwizard]

ustwo's response reads a lot like Kickstarter's in that they're both totally full of shit.

Definitely never playing another one of their games.

 

[PaulLFC]

If they fired him for union activity then they're stupid. No way they'll get away with that over here.

 

[Hella]

At the very least I'm glad UK law sounds like it backs the union up. Union-busting is unconscionable.

Them two?

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UsTwo?

UsVsYou

 

[Velocity:Design:Comfort]

More details from The Guardian:





Basically: You can be in a union, just don't do any of the things being in a union entails, like promoting diversity or challenging authority.

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I cant speak for the UK, but this is how companies get around Wagner Act and other laws in the US (in states where it's not right to fire I mean)

 

[Tygre]

I cant speak for the UK, but this is how companies get around Wagner Act and other laws in the US (in states where it's not right to fire I mean)

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While the UK's labour laws (and laws around the recognition of unions) are under constant threat from the Tories, they are still considerably beefier than anything in the US.

The only wrinkle may be length of service. Protections get far more substantial after 2 years of continuous employment.