“Solidarity is our strongest tool:” UNI stands with ver.di Game Devs Roundtable in wake of Ubisoft Dusseldorf layoffs

Following Ubisoft Düsseldorf laying off 65 employees over the last month, UNI Global Union is standing in solidarity with the affected workers. We fully support the following statement released by the ver.di Game Devs Roundtable:

As game devs, we know it all too well: The constant fear that your position could be swallowed next by the wave of mass layoffs washing over our industry. This time it hit our colleagues at Ubisoft.

Ever since the imminent mass layoffs were known, the members of the works council at Ubisoft Düsseldorf have done everything in their power to bring the negotiations to a good conclusion – or as good as it can be. However, their management has failed to fulfill its legal obligation to inform them sufficiently and in due time, sabotaging their ability to negotiate seriously. It is hard to not perceive this as an intentional and malicious attempt to push matters through as fast as possible.

Dear colleagues, we see what you are going through and we wish you lots of strength for the negotiations over the next few weeks.

The bosses take the profits, but don’t care for the workers.

We stick together, we stand together! Solidarity is our strongest tool.

The ver.di Game Dev Roundtable is an association of workers in the video games industry. We’re tired of crunch, harassment, and a lack of transparency that only makes our work worse. Just complaining about these things won’t change them. We’re taking action. We have turned to our trade union, ver.di, and organized ourselves.

Echoing this sentiment, Karri Lybeck, Senior Organizer for UNI ICTS/Tech & Games said:

The games industry is built on the passion and dedication of developers, not on ruthless decisions made behind closed doors. Ubisoft’s management must be held accountable for their disregard of workers’ rights in their quest for profit. UNI Global Union stands firmly with ver.di Game Devs and the workers at Ubisoft Düsseldorf—your fight is our fight.