Ubisoft workers urged to strike in October over return to office
Ubisoft's France-based workers are being called to take part in a three-day strike next month over a dispute around the company's return to office policy.
The strike was called by French game workers union STJV (Syndicat des Travailleurs et Travailleuses du Jeu Vidéo) after management at the Assassin's Creed publisher told staff they would be expected to be in the office at least three days per week going forward.
The union claims this decision was made "without any tangible justification or any consultation with the workers' representatives."
GamesIndustry.biz has reached out to Ubisoft for comment.
"After more than five years of working efficiently in the current remote-work context, many of our colleagues have built or rebuilt their lives (family life, housing, parenthood, etc.) and simply cannot return to the previous working conditions," STJV wrote in its call to strike.
"Our employer knows this perfectly well. The consequence of its decision will be the loss of our colleagues' jobs, the disorganization of many game projects, and the drastic increase in psychosocial risks for those who remain."
The union added that this return to office policy followed failed negotiations over profit sharing, where the organisation found management proposals to be "unacceptable" while leadership was "deaf to the proposals of the various employee representatives."
A similar dispute was apparently had over salary negotiations.
As a result, STJV is calling on all Ubisoft employees in France to strike on October 15 through 17, 2024.
The union is demanding that Ubisoft introduce a formal agreement on remote work based on negotiations between management and STJV, and an immediate increase in all salaries to "compensate for the drop in our living standards in recent years."
The news comes just hours after Ubisoft revised its financial forecasts and delayed Assassin's Creed Shadows to February 2025, citing "learnings from the Star Wars Outlaws release." In the wake of this game's launch,
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