Keir Starmer says ministers will look into Rockstar Games firings

Prime Minister Keir Starmer has said that ministers will look into allegations of "union busting" at video game developer Rockstar Games.  

In October, Rockstar Games fired 31 employees from its UK-based studio operation in an act described by the Independent Workers' Union of Great Britain (IWGB) as “union busting”.  

Starmer announced the investigation in response to a question from Labour MP for Edinburgh East and Musselburgh Chris Murray, who highlighted concerns over employment rights at Rockstar Games, which produces the hugely successful Grand Theft Auto games.

Murray said: “Having met with Rockstar, they failed to reassure me they are following employment law and I share concerns about union busting.”

The developer previously said in a statement to Bloomberg that it had fired staff for distributing confidential information. 

But the IWGB has accused the company of firing employees due to their involvement in a private trade union Discord channel, where staff discussed unionising.

Murray asked the prime minister if he agreed that “all companies, regardless of profit size, must follow UK employment law. And that all workers have the right to join a union”.

In the UK, workers have the right to choose to join or not join a union and employers are not allowed to discriminate against workers based on their union membership.  

Starmer said: “Well it’s a deeply concerning case, every worker has the right to join a trade union. We are determined to strengthen workers' rights and ensure they don’t face unfair consequences for being part of a union. Ministers will look into the particular case that he [Murray] raises and keep him updated.”

Alex Marshall, IWGB president said:

“If Rockstar thought they could get away with union busting this ruthless and this blatant, they were wrong. It’s good to see the world noticing their appalling behaviour - from international solidarity from game developers around the world to the UK Government looking into this case. The Rockstar Union remains strong, with more members than ever. We will continue to fight this attack on workers using every tool at our disposal, and will be seeing Rockstar in court soon.”

Take-Two Interactive, the parent company of Rockstar Games has been contacted for comment.