INTERVIEW: Inside the final push for a Rockstar Games union (Patreon)

If you watched our last bit of reporting on the Rockstar Games firings back in July, you'll know that the company had just begun negotiations with the remaining union members across its UK studios about the possibility of formally recognising their efforts. If successful, this would immediately establish the Rockstar Game Workers Union as one of the largest workplace unions in the games industry, representing around 1650 members.

These negotiations have now led to both sides agreeing to run a ballot of the studio's UK workforce; a vote which will determine whether the union is officially recognized or not.

November, as you may have heard, is going to prove an extraordinarily important month for Rockstar Games. Not only is Grand Theft Auto VI about to hit shelves on the 19th, this ballot will already be well underway by then and what's more, we could also hear the final decision on whether or not Rockstar's dismissal of 34 employees (31 of whom were union members) did, in fact, break the law. One way or another, this games studio is never going to be the same again.

I arranged a call with Nestor Uriarte, an animation programmer on GTA VI and Rockstar Game Workers Union representative, to find out more about this all-important vote for recognition. You can watch our full conversation in the video above, but here are the headlines.

Why did Rockstar agree to this ballot?

You might have seen some quotes recently from Rockstar's head of publishing, Jennifer Kolbe, where she's spoken positively about the negotiations that have been underway. You could even argue she teased the ballot herself in a recent Bloomberg article, saying "if they want a union, they will have a union," of her UK-based employees. Confusing, no? This doesn't sound like the same company which fired more than 30 of the union's top organizers just last year (Rockstar disputes the claim that these firings were designed to damage the union).

Well in our interview, Nestor is keen to point out that the reason these negotiations even began in the first place is because his union had voted to pursue recognition, whether that was through the company voluntarily recognising them, or via the statutory recognition process instead. In short, had Rockstar not agreed to hold a ballot, the union had the numbers to apply for recognition through a government body called the Central Arbitration Committee. According to the union, this is something that Rockstar needed to be reminded of during their discussions.

"At the beginning [of the negotiations] we found the meetings to be slower paced than we would hope for," said Uriarte. "And in fact, it took like three months to get to this point. We were hoping to get this result earlier. So there was one time where we had to check in again with the membership saying, like, 'hey, we feel like we're not making great progress in these meetings'. We had to vote again whether to kick off a statutory, to say like, 'hey guys, we either do it voluntary way or we are ready to kick it off', which really sped up the process..."

Who will be represented by the union, if the ballot is successful?

The union says it'll represent somewhere around 1650 employees across Rockstar's various UK offices should it win the vote. This spans different studios in Edinburgh, Dundee, Lincoln and others. Senior management, HR, finance, or anybody with a position higher than lead is considered ineligible.

"I'm not entirely sure now, but I think the whole workforce of Rockstar UK, it's around 1800 employees," said Uriarte. "So the bargaining unit covers most of the employees."

How many members does the union currently have?

It's worth saying that although the bargaining unit represented by the union would include this 1650 figure, those employees are not automatically paid members of the Rockstar Game Workers Union. This ballot is to determine whether or not the union can negotiate on behalf of that entire group of employees, but they don't themselves need to become a member.

"At the moment we have above 250 members," said Uriarte. "One in every six or seven employees, it's a union member."

If recognised, what will the union be able to negotiate?

"We definitely have the statutory minimums covered and then more things on top of that," said Uriarte. This means topics like pay, bonuses, pensions, leave, working hours and holidays will all potentially be negotiated by the union, on behalf of the workers, if it's recognised.

However, when it comes to other thorny issues such as remote work, or significant AI policy changes, Rockstar would only need to consult with the union on these topics. This wouldn't be a part of the actual contract negotiations under this proposed agreement, meaning Rockstar won't necessarily need to reach a compromise here if it doesn't agree with the union's stance.

How confident is the union that it's about to win this vote?

"I can only speak for my own personal opinion, obviously," said Uriarte. "I'm going to say yes, I think the result is going to be a yes. I'm optimistic. And I've seen the work that my colleagues have done, I've seen the chats they've had in the office. And I think, now that we managed to get to address the frequently asked questions from people what they may be curious about, what they do not understand, and cleared those things out, I do feel like people who were on the fence now start to understand and they're like 'okay, so this is just another tool to have and it's nice to have it, even though I might not need it.'"

When will we find out the result?

Voting begins on the 12th November and will remain open until the 26th. The final result is expected at some point the following week.

Update (06/11/2026): The union has asked me to update the post to correct something Nestor said in the interview. Employees holding a lead position are included in the bargaining unit, it's only positions above lead which are ineligible.