It is also a right in Canada, where this happened and where we don’t refer to our rights as “constitutional” since they don’t primarily derive from our constitution but rather from the charter of freedoms and case law
These employees did exercise their right to unionize, but there’s no way to force employers to keep the union. A union just means that you can bargain collectively, and it should theoretically protect employees because what kind of scummy employer wants to fire ALL their employees, right? Turns out Ubisoft IS that scummy.
I mean it absolutely is illegal to retaliate against unionizing workers by firing them, that’s why they didn’t say “we fired them because they unionized”. And Canada isn’t America, we don’t have right to work legislation and you can’t generally just fire people en masse without cause out of the blue
Except ubisoft is hemorrhaging money so it’s an extremely easy sell to say “the studio is not profitable and we’re in dire need to cut waste” and indeed can the lot.
I mean, I’d bet dollars to donuts Ubisoft would win it handily if it gets to a class action or whatever equivalent.
For one, they’re basically on the verge of falling over so the economic motivation is a no-brainer.
For two, it’s a massive multinational company headquartered in France (a country with stronger labour laws than Canada) with plenty of legal advice available on these matters. I highly doubt they’d do it this blatantly if they were not confident this is an easy sell, instead of waiting something like 6 months to separate the 2 events enough for plausible deniability.
For three, good luck holding a foreign company accountable, in general.
Their games have been reheated bongwater broth for more than a decade now, more predictable than even Sony and far less competent in execution, did you need more reasons?
Ubisoft is actually the worst possible video game corporation.
They almost never make a game that’s worthy of anyone’s time, their business practices are scummy, they kill off their games and tell people to get used to not owning them, treat their workers like shit and their stock price is in the gutter so not even the wallstreet ghouls benefit from how awful they are.
Yeah, I remember that. They also treat their players like absolute shit in general. But at least Rockstar makes games people enjoy and provides shareholder value. Ubisoft sucks so much they are actively harmful to everyone involved.
I support unions, but at this point I’d be terrified to join a new one. Especially when you’re somewhere owned by a large company or private equity firm. There are just no protections for unions anymore, and these days large companies would rather just close down entire departments than give employees basic rights.
I get that the fear and intimidation are the point, but that really doesn’t help. Having a gun pointed in your face is also a form of fear and intimidation, but knowing that doesn’t make it any less dangerous when it happens to you.
I just don’t know what to do anymore, every single thing feels like a losing option while the world just continues to get worse and worse. I’ve scrimped and saved for years to have some sort of nest egg, and its barely more than what more successful people casually spend in a week. I don’t see a way out of this mess.
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I’ve been avoiding ubi for a decade or longer because they suck in many other ways, but here’s another reason to not give them a single penny.
71 people lose their jobs just to send a message
And the message is:
Unions should be a constitutional right
(And it is, in Denmark)
It is also a right in Canada, where this happened and where we don’t refer to our rights as “constitutional” since they don’t primarily derive from our constitution but rather from the charter of freedoms and case law
These employees did exercise their right to unionize, but there’s no way to force employers to keep the union. A union just means that you can bargain collectively, and it should theoretically protect employees because what kind of scummy employer wants to fire ALL their employees, right? Turns out Ubisoft IS that scummy.
I mean it absolutely is illegal to retaliate against unionizing workers by firing them, that’s why they didn’t say “we fired them because they unionized”. And Canada isn’t America, we don’t have right to work legislation and you can’t generally just fire people en masse without cause out of the blue
Except ubisoft is hemorrhaging money so it’s an extremely easy sell to say “the studio is not profitable and we’re in dire need to cut waste” and indeed can the lot.
They can, and they can try to make the case that this is unrelated to unionization and fight that in court. Good luck
I mean, I’d bet dollars to donuts Ubisoft would win it handily if it gets to a class action or whatever equivalent.
For one, they’re basically on the verge of falling over so the economic motivation is a no-brainer.
For two, it’s a massive multinational company headquartered in France (a country with stronger labour laws than Canada) with plenty of legal advice available on these matters. I highly doubt they’d do it this blatantly if they were not confident this is an easy sell, instead of waiting something like 6 months to separate the 2 events enough for plausible deniability.
For three, good luck holding a foreign company accountable, in general.
And that message is “Don’t ever buy from Ubisoft ever again”
Their games have been reheated bongwater broth for more than a decade now, more predictable than even Sony and far less competent in execution, did you need more reasons?
Ubisoft is actually the worst possible video game corporation.
They almost never make a game that’s worthy of anyone’s time, their business practices are scummy, they kill off their games and tell people to get used to not owning them, treat their workers like shit and their stock price is in the gutter so not even the wallstreet ghouls benefit from how awful they are.
It’s incredible.
Rockstar had a similar scandal firing unionising workers last year
Yeah, I remember that. They also treat their players like absolute shit in general. But at least Rockstar makes games people enjoy and provides shareholder value. Ubisoft sucks so much they are actively harmful to everyone involved.
Absolute scumbags.
Here if over 50% want to form a union its illegal to stop it. I wonder if the USA has that?
This was in Canada… and Ubisoft is French.
Need more to unionise at the same time.
What are the chances that it was shut down because of the unionization, vs just bad timing?
100% because of unionization; this is capitalist formula.
They said they closed it as a “cost-cutting measure”… The only costs that increased was that the studio unionized, and unionized studios “cost” more.
There’s zero chance this was coincidence
Jail.
I support unions, but at this point I’d be terrified to join a new one. Especially when you’re somewhere owned by a large company or private equity firm. There are just no protections for unions anymore, and these days large companies would rather just close down entire departments than give employees basic rights.
I get that the fear and intimidation are the point, but that really doesn’t help. Having a gun pointed in your face is also a form of fear and intimidation, but knowing that doesn’t make it any less dangerous when it happens to you.
I just don’t know what to do anymore, every single thing feels like a losing option while the world just continues to get worse and worse. I’ve scrimped and saved for years to have some sort of nest egg, and its barely more than what more successful people casually spend in a week. I don’t see a way out of this mess.
You basically just said “don’t team up with your friends for protection because the bullies might get madder”
weak shit. the weakest. i’m so sad for you
Remember that 100 years ago making or joining a Union could made you get shot or get beaten. Fear was and is always their no1 weapon.