Protest held outside Rockstar North building in Edinburgh as sackings branded 'union busting'

Backed by the Independent Workers Union (IWGB), and with unions from across the country lending support, workers gathered outside the company’s Barclay House headquarters to challenge the decision to sack them.

Fired workers, some with more than a decade of service, spoke at the protest of their anguish at being sacked from the company. A statement read out by union organisers also highlighted that at least one worker was now facing deportation.

Fred Carter, an organiser for the IWGB, called the move to fire the workers “union busting” - with the individuals involved either members of a union or in discussions around joining the union, and called the move “brazen and ruthless”.

Mr Carter said: “I don't think I've ever seen such brazen and ruthless union busting. The only parallel I can draw in my head in the UK is Amazon, the way a corporate company like that comes down on workers exercising their basic legal rights. The games industry has not seen anything like it.

“To be honest, I'm in shock. I'm also in awe of the workers who come out of this building today to stand up for their colleagues, their co-workers, and their friends. That's a brave thing to do, and it sends a really clear message to Rockstar that they're not going to take this lying down.”

Rockstar claimed the workers were dismissed due to gross misconduct. In a statement to Bloomberg, the company said: “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. This was in no way related to people’s right to join a union or engage in union activities.”

Mr Carter refuted those claims and : “All that we've seen members do is exercise their basic rights to talk about terms and conditions in the workplace, and attempt, in good faith, to form a union to represent themselves and each other.

“The company can say what they like in the press. I think it's very, very clear to people, and you see that from the people assembled here today, that they've understood what this is.

“This is a company that has decided, at any cost, they don't want to have a union. They don't want to give workers who build games the say in how their games are built.”

Now the focus draws onto what Rockstar does next. Mr Carter called for the workers to be reinstated and for the company to work with a union.

He added: “Make this right. Reinstate the 31 workers in the UK. Give us accountability. Give us a commitment to following legal procedure, the letter of the law, the union is here to make your workplace better.”

Leader of the Scottish Greens Ross Greer MSP, who attended the protest in support of the workers, echoed calls for their reinstatement and for Rockstar to recognise the union.

He said: “Rockstar is one of the most successful companies in Scotland. It produces some of the most profitable products in the history of media and entertainment. Nerds like me have sunk far too much of our lives into the games that they're producing.

“These workers deserve their fair share of those profits. They deserve to be working under decent conditions, a group of workers have exercised their right to organize together, to build a union and to make sure that they get what they're due, and Rockstar has retaliated by sacking them. That is not just wildly out of order, it is also unlawful.”

Grand Theft Auto 6 is the highly anticipated next instalment of the video game series. It’s predecessor Grand Theft Auto V netted the company an estimated $10 billion after its release in 2013.

Rockstar Games has been approached for comment.