SAG-AFTRA calls strike against League of Legends, files unfair labour practice against Formosa
Update: Riot Games says it has "nothing to do with the complaint mentioned in SAG-AFTRA's press release."
In a statement to GamesIndustry.biz, Riot Games said:
"League of Legends has nothing to do with the complaint mentioned in SAG-AFTRA’s press release.
"We want to be clear: Since becoming a union project five years ago, League of Legends has only asked Formosa to engage with Union performers in the US and has never once suggested doing otherwise.
"In addition, we’ve never asked Formosa to cancel a game that we’ve registered. All of the allegations in SAG-AFTRA’s press release relating to canceling a game or hiring non-union talent relate to a non-Riot game, and have nothing to do with League or any of our games."
Original story follows.
Original story: The Screen Actors Guild - American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (SAG-AFTRA) has called a strike against League of Legends after claims Formosa Interactive "tried to subvert the video game strike."
In a statement, the union said it believes actions by the company Formosa Interactive - which provides art and audio services to a host of AAA studios - "to be a flagrant violation of labour law and has filed an unfair labour practice charge against the company with the National Labour Relations Board."
"The complaint comes after Formosa tried to 'cancel' one of its struck video games shortly after the start of SAG-AFTRA's video game strike," the union says.
"When they were told that was not possible, they secretly transferred the game to a shell company and sent out casting notices for 'Non-union' talent only."
SAG-AFTRA says it charges "that these serious actions are egregious violations of core tenets of labour law - that employers cannot interfere with performers' rights to form or join a union and they cannot discriminate against union performers."
"The unilateral and surreptitious transfer of union work to a non-union shell company is an impermissible and appalling attempt to evade a strike action and
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