Charlie Kinloch, HR manager and co-studio operations director at Rockstar Lincoln, testified that he had "little interest" in evidence of unionisation efforts sent to him by an anonymous employee prior to the company laying off numerous members of a union-affiliated Discord group. This testimony comes as part of an ongoing trial at Glasgow Tribunals Centre, where 31 former Rockstar employees, represented by the Independent Workers' Union of Great Britain (IWGB), allege they were unlawfully dismissed as part of union-busting tactics.
Rockstar, conversely, contends that the terminated staff were dismissed for gross misconduct and leaking confidential information. Kinloch was scrutinized for statements made during an interim relief hearing in January, where claimants argued he had misled the employment court. Initially, Kinloch stated he was unaware of employees' IWGB union membership. In a more recent statement, he amended this to say he had no way of knowing "definitively" which employees were union members, a nuance he attributed to contextual prompts rather than a deliberate attempt to mislead.
The cross-examiner referenced messages sent to Kinloch by an anonymous employee, later cited as evidence for the terminations. These messages reportedly included Discord discussions about union organizing, leaflet distribution, and workplace complaints. Kinloch, however, rejected the suggestion that these messages identified specific individuals as IWGB members. He emphasized that while he had a "broad" interest in general unionisation's impact on line managers' work, he had "little interest" in employees' unionization conversations, prioritizing instead the monitoring of "disparagement and misinformation about Rockstar."
When questioned why statements deemed 'disparaging' did not lead to immediate terminations in early 2024 but actions were taken 18 months later, Kinloch cited the impending release of Grand Theft Auto 6. He stated that these messages were viewed with heightened scrutiny due to Rockstar's unprecedented level of attention surrounding the game's launch. The potential for negative publicity and financial harm from leaks was a significant concern, especially with user growth and disparaging comments increasing on the employee Discord server.
Kinloch also identified two other topics discussed on Discord as major red flags: the proposed launch of a Rockstar Games union Twitter account, which he considered a security risk, and the intention to contact prominent games journalists Jason Schrier of Bloomberg and Keza Macdonald of The Guardian. These concerns contributed to Rockstar's claim of an "irretrievable breakdown in trust and confidence" with the affected employees.
The trial is set to continue next week with further cross-examination of Rockstar witnesses, as former employees await the outcome of this significant legal dispute.