The French trade union STJV has called on Don't Nod staff to hold a two-hour strike today, 28 October. The move comes as STJV is in talks with management at studio Life is Strange, which it is considering potentially eliminateable 69 positions in a reorganization spurred by weakness financial performance for the first half of the 2024-2025 fiscal year.
Previously, the union had encouraged game developers to fight for better working conditions. He did it with Don't Nod following the news of the reorganization, and in September by telling The French Ubisoft staff go on strike to protest against the novelty of the study mandate to return to office.
ON October 24the union said management's forthcoming proposal on the terms of the negotiation “must be described for what it is: a rag” and part of a broader effort to stifle proper discussion.
This plan supposedly gives the STJV, the appointed experts and the French Economic and Social Committee (CSE) the “minimum legal minimum” of time to present their argument to Don't Nod, by a post-Christmas deadline deemed “unrealistic and irresponsible “.
Allegedly, management preemptively refused to allow the CSE to convene further meetings and permitted no further communication channels between the unions beyond an on-site bulletin board and an obscure intranet page. As STJV notes, Don't Nod has a staff of nearly 300 people (nearly all of whom work remotely), making these channels “impossible” to use.
“Management's goal is to carry out their plan as brutally and quickly as possible,” STJV wrote, “trampling on all checks and balances, to fit the games' release schedules.”
STJV wants to prevent the “social massacre” of Don't Nod
In addition to asking Don't Nod management to “rethink their position,” the union released a series of provisions to the studio's proposal. Primarily, such requests require that the group itself and other working groups have the right amount of delegation time needed to process a discussion (12 hours in total) and a minimum window of 48 hours between negotiation meetings.
Furthermore, it wants trade union representatives to have the right to convene for a further meeting with the French Employment Protection Plan, that experts appointed by the CSE can participate in such meetings and that such experts have an extended deadline to submit their reports .
These demands, STJV said, are “more than legitimate and simply aim to maintain a semblance of social dialogue. We urge the management to return to seriousness… and immediately stop twisting the arm of elected representatives already exhausted by years of contempt. “
You can read STJV's full requests for handling Don't Nod and the full account of events Here.