Ubisoft Paris employees will strike over working conditions
Ubisoft is now ready to take the world by storm strikes from unhappy game developers. Solidaires Informatique Jeu Vidéo has called Ubisoft Paris employees will go on strike January 27th in order to demand better working conditions. To account for inflation, the labor union demands an immediate 10 percent increase in salary and improved working hours. Solidaires Informatique also demands greater transparency regarding workforce changes. It also requests pledges to stop thinly-disguised firings or “abusive management practices” that force staff to quit.
The strike plan is in response to Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot’s internal email after news that the company was being liquidated cancelling three games Trying to cope with difficult economic conditions. As PC Gamer notesGuillemot warned workers to be cautious with their spending and called for “targeted restructuring” as well as “natural attrition” to be taken. Solidaires Informatique believes that the executive is trying to shift the blame to employees while subtly hinting to layoffs and pay cuts as well as studio closings.
Engadget declined to comment on Ubisoft Paris’s behavior. Solidaires Informatique isn’t the only one to take Ubisoft to task for its conduct. Ubisoft was sued by the labor group in 2021 over allegedly encouraging a culture of “…”institutional sexual harassment“A place where it was easier than fixing bad behavior to endure it. The company was already fired key managers Although they were charged with misconduct, other people were not.
This call to action is part of a growing labor movement in the gaming industry. Microsoft has just acknowledged the game industry’s largest unionActivision Blizzard employees are in high demand winning union votes. It’s a gradual shift away from the hours of crunch that have so often defined game development. Eidos’ Quebec studios started four-day weeks In 2021, some talent left to create independent studios. crunch is forbidden. Employees are not willing to accept the status-quo.