- UK Prime Minister Sir Kier Starmer says Parliament will investigate union-busting allegations against Rockstar
- The studio fired 31 grand theft car 6 employees in October
- Britain’s Independent Workers Union claims Rockstar sacked employees for trying to unionise, but Take-Two has denied the allegations.
UK Prime Minister Sir Kier Starmer has said the UK Parliament will investigate union-busting allegations against Rockstar Games after the studio fired 31 grand theft car 6 developers in October.
As reported by IGN, local Rockstar North MP Chris Murray appeared during the Parliament session on December 10 to inform Starmer of the matter, saying: “The video game company Rockstar in my constituency last month sacked 31 employees without providing evidence or union representation. [Independent Workers Union of Great Britain] IWGB alleges union busting. Having met Rockstar, they did not assure me that they were following labor laws and I share concerns about union busting.
“Given that this Government is responsible for the biggest increase in workers’ rights in a generation,” Murray continued, “does the Prime Minister agree that all businesses, regardless of the size of their profits, must follow UK employment law and that all workers have the right to join a union?”
In response, Starmer acknowledged the case, calling it “deeply worrying” and stating that Parliamentary ministers would investigate the matter.
“It’s a deeply worrying case,” Starmer said. “Every worker has the right to join a union and we are determined to strengthen workers’ rights and ensure that they do not face unfair consequences for being part of a union. Our ministers will examine the particular case in which he [Murray] increases and will keep it updated.”
Union busting has consequences! UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer says the government will investigate @RockstarGames’ dismissal of 31 union members. pic.twitter.com/4EEM9NvcR7December 10, 2025
MP Chris Murray shared additional information in a follow-up statement to IGN about his attempts to discuss the matter with Rockstar, which included a joint meeting with Edinburgh MPs Tracy Gilbert and Scott Arthur at the Rockstar North offices, which reportedly began with a confrontation over signing a non-disclosure agreement (NDA).
“The meeting began with us MPs refusing entry unless a confidentiality agreement was signed, a request they eventually withdrew after it became clear it would not be signed,” Murray said.
“The meeting only reinforced my concerns about the process Rockstar used to dismiss so many of its staff. I was not assured that their process paid much attention to UK employment law, I was not convinced that this course of action was necessary and, alarmingly, I did not come away informed about exactly what these 31 people had done to justify their immediate dismissal.”
Following the layoffs in October, IWGB claimed that Rockstar terminated their jobs to prevent workers from unionizing: “This is the most ruthless act of union busting in the history of the UK games industry… We won’t back down, and we’re not afraid – we’ll fight to get all members reinstated.”
Bloomberg also reported that the employees were part of a private union chat group on Discord and were all members of the union or trying to organize within Rockstar.
Rockstar and parent company Take-Two denied allegations that they were due to workers’ attempts to unionize and instead involved employees leaking company secrets, including “confidential information.”
“Last week, we took action against a small number of people who were distributing and discussing confidential information in a public forum, a violation of our company policies,” the statement read.
“This had no bearing on people’s right to join a union or participate in union activities.”
GTA 6The delay came shortly after the layoffs and the game is now expected to release on November 19, 2026.
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