Sunday, December 05, 2021

IWGB union says Lockwood Publishing layoffs are illegal

Worker's group says management did not provide adequate consultation for cuts to 33 positions

Jeffrey Rousseau
Staff Writer
Friday 3rd December 2021
COMPANIES IN THIS ARTICLE
Lockwood Publishing

Today the Independent Workers' Union of Great Britain called recent layoffs at Lockwood Publishing unlawful.

The IWGB said workers have negotiated with management for weeks about layoffs of about 17% of the company (33 of 200 positions placed at risk) and are going public as "management refuses to engage with the workers seriously."

The IWGB says that with layoffs of this scope employers are required to have collective consultations before proceeding, and it alleges that Lockwood has not done that.

In a press release the employee group said, "Mobile games developer Lockwood Publishing has been conducting an unlawful redundancy process, repeatedly flouting employment law."

It added, "When placing this number of employees at risk of redundancy, a corporation is obligated by law to conduct collective consultations as laid out in the legislation, which Lockwood has failed to do, disregarding the basic rights of its employees."

The IWGB has demanded Lockwood Publishing "abide by employment law, recognize their union and initiate a fair process."

The press release also calls attention to the company's finances, specifically $25 million in funding it secured from Tencent just last year.

GamesIndustry.biz has reached out to Lockwood for comment.

Mobile Game Publisher Lockwood Accused Of "Flouting Employment Law"











BY RHIANNON BEVAN
PUBLISHED 2 DAYS AGO

The studio behind mobile game Avakin is said to be secretly laying off its staff, and not even letting them say goodbye to coworkers.

Lockwood Publishing, best known for the popular mobile game Avakin Life, is facing accusations of breaching employment law. This comes from the Independent Workers' Union of Great Britain (IWGB), a trade union that represents game workers. This comes despite a big Tencent partnership, and the CEO making over $300,000 a year.

According to the allegations, Lockwood is trying to lay off 33 out of a workforce of 200. Employees are said to have their workplace IT accounts suddenly disabled without warning, before being told they are at risk of redundancy. IWGB says the workforce has not been consulted about this high number of layoffs, which would be a breach of employment law.

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"One day without any previous notice, HR called us into an agendaless meeting", said one anonymous employee. "We were told we were at risk of redundancy but not given any real explanation as to why. Some people had their work accounts deactivated within minutes and were told they couldn’t say goodbye to their co-workers".

This all comes despite a $25 million cash injection last year, courtesy of Tencent. The redundancies are also bizarre given the popularity of metaverse games like Avakin Life over lockdown, which has seen the game reach seven million monthly users, across 250 million accounts.

It was also found that the company's CEO makes £360k, leading many to question if these redundancies are truly necessary.



In response to the lack of transparency regarding such a high amount of employees facing job loss over the holidays, Lockwood workers formed their own union and affiliated with IWGB.

"We are asking management at Lockwood Publishing to halt this unlawful and illegitimate process of redundancies and avoid costly legal and reputational damage in the process", said a representative of The Lockwood Union. "No one should be sacked at Christmas, especially when there are clear alternatives available. Ultimately, we all want the same thing: we want a flourishing organisation that we are proud to work for. To do that, senior management at Lockwood have to start listening to their workers". The union goes on to compare the case to that of Activision Blizzard and Ubisoft, who face their own workplace abuse allegations.

Lockwood Publishing is yet to respond to the allegations.

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