Unions at Ubisoft studios in Barcelona have filed a lawsuit against the company over changes to its remote work policy. They want Ubisoft to withdraw the requirement to work in the office at least 3 days a week.
Unions at Ubisoft studios in Barcelona have filed a lawsuit against the company over changes to its remote work policy. They want Ubisoft to withdraw the requirement to work in the office at least 3 days a week.
In collaboration with the Spanish trade union CGT (Confederación General del Trabajo), the workers are demanding that Ubisoft withdraw the back-to-office mandate and ensure that remote work is protected by a collective agreement. This is reported by GamesIndustry.biz.
Unions say that while both sides are open to talks, company management has yet to come up with an offer since the lawsuit was filed on Oct. 14. The changes proposed by Ubisoft allegedly see workers returning to work for at least 3 days a week.
This will replace the current monthly telecommuting guidelines, which stipulate that 60% of working days per month, as employees choose, can be worked from home. Those who work full-time from home will also need to follow this policy.
Unions say Ubisoft’s decision was made «suddenly and in a non-transparent manner», stressing that it will create logistical problems as offices are not ready to accommodate all remote workers at the same time.
Ubisoft said the return to the office was necessary for «teamwork» and «better communication,» but unions said «management has consistently failed to provide any real tangible benefits to support this move.»
It will be recalled that last month more than 700 employees of Ubisoft France went on a three-day strike due to protests against requirements for working in the office and disagreement with the payment of their work. Subsequently, Ubisoft Milan workers called for a one-day strike in solidarity with Ubisoft France.
At the end of October, the managing director of Ubisoft Ukraine, Olga Sendzyuk, talked about the expropriation of the company’s Ukrainian offices, the impact of piracy, Ukrainian localization, and the role of game development in Ukrainian IT.
In particular, she noted that the number of languages into which games are translated, not only by Ubisoft, is decreasing. She added that if the country lacks a wide game market and mass demand for a local language in the game, it is quite difficult to get into the localization policy.
«Our localization [of the XDefiant game] was a show of solidarity and support. Currently, we have no plans to localize other games in Ukrainian», — said Olha Sendzyuk.
