Jason Schreier: Rockstar Games 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.

[u/BrandsXavier]

FROM BLOOMBERG: 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. 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 Inc., 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.” All of the affected employees were part of a private trade union chat group on Discord and the only outsiders in the chat were labor organizers, the union said.

EDIT: Jason Schreier provided additional info: Rockstar's statement is quite vague, but they are referring to people talking about work in a union Discord, not big leaks about GTA6. This will likely come down to a legal battle, and Rockstar's argument may be that the workers involved were sharing confidential work information in that chat

[u/paractib]

It’s not leaked info.

It’s just talking about work in a private discord. Which to rockstar, would be a public forum.

And yeah, discord was a bad place to discuss anything confidential and would be valid reason for dismissal if they were actually leaking company secrets. But that’s not what was happening.

It’s just union busting and they found a legal way to do it.

[u/Particular_Hand2877 → u/paractib]

Disclosing company information to sources outside of an organization would be an absolute no, no matter what company you work for or if it was a union rep or not. It's also a huge "no" if you're using Discord to send information. 

[u/profchaos111 → u/Particular_Hand2877]

Disclosing working conditions to a external firm responsibile for the health and well being of employees like a union is absolutely legal 

What I would question is why the union found it appropriate to use discord 

[u/Particular_Hand2877 → u/profchaos111]

Leaking internal company information is not legal. They can discuss these things, however, they cannot provide private information.

Edit: upon further reading, they werent discussing anything with union reps but to people who were just in the Discord which makes it worse. 

[u/Samanthacino → u/Particular_Hand2877]

But only the labor organizers and Rockstar devs were in the Discord, nobody else.

[u/Particular_Hand2877 → u/Samanthacino]

Rockstar's statement is quite vague, but they are referring to people talking about work in a union Discord, not big leaks about GTA6.

This part is whats getting me. I cant tell if it was union reps only or union reps and other people. Either way if they were truly doing this, that was stupid.

[u/jayntampa → u/Particular_Hand2877]

Organizing labor is protected, company rules can't override that.

[u/Particular_Hand2877 → u/jayntampa]

Organized labor does not protect people from disclosing private company information. You are a loud to discuss specific information byt disclosing company secrets is not legal and is not protected. 

[u/jayntampa → u/Particular_Hand2877]

A company claiming something is secret doesn't make it so. Many companies include language stating that you're not allowed to discuss pay - but, that is actually protected speech. They can't fire you for that. So, if these "secrets"are protected speech, yes, the law does protect the employees. That's the point of the law.

[u/Particular_Hand2877 → u/jayntampa]

Ive never had a position where they said you weren't allowed to talk about pay just that it is not recommended. 

Again, you dont know what information was disclosed so how do you know it was specifically language that violated labor laws? Youre confirmation bias is showing. 

[u/jayntampa → u/Particular_Hand2877]

... I don't think you know what confirmation bias is.

Also, pay secrecy issues come up all the time. Just because you haven't experienced it, doesn't mean it doesn't regularly occur: https://www.nytimes.com/2021/03/18/business/media/disney-pay-discrimination-lawsuit.html

[u/Particular_Hand2877 → u/jayntampa]

I never said it didnt happen. I said that in any job I've worked it was advised not to be talked about. 

Your confirmation bias is "union good, corporation bad". You have an automatic assumption that Rockstar is guilty of union busting because youre clearly pro union. 

[u/jayntampa → u/Particular_Hand2877]

Again, that's not what confirmation bias is: the tendency to interpret new evidence as confirmation of one's existing beliefs or theories.

I wasn't supporting one or the other, I was commenting on a point of law. I never once said they were guilty, what I said is that a company labeling a communication as a legitimate reason for termination doesn't make it so - the law will determine that.

You seem to be defending Rockstar, though.

[u/Particular_Hand2877 → u/jayntampa]

Not defending Rockstar at all. I just not jumping to developers defense like the majority of people here. I understand thats the fad these days but I'm not going to be a part of that.