The Ubisoft Workers of Montreal Union have launched a petition to “preserve hybrid work”, which has reached more than 300 signatures.
As Game Developer reports, the Game Workers Unite Montreal (GWU) union started its campaign yesterday (September 30), sharing an announcement on social media.
“Every Ubisoft Montreal employee is invited to sign the petition and every supporter encouraged to reach out to their network to encourage them to sign.”
The union encouraged Ubisoft employees to “meet [their] colleagues during break hours” to sign the petition, as “most of the signatures were collected in person.”
The United Videogame Workers Union (UVW-CWA) shared its support for the petition, stating that the UWM union “are leading the change in our collective struggle for dignified work and economic justice.”
“Return to Office is one of many policies management implements without the input of workers it affects the most: parents, employees with disabilities, workers who purchased homes outside of a reasonable commute radius, workers who moved countries to maintain their job, workers who thrive in a remote environment, and many others,” it wrote.
“By enacting brutal cost-cutting measures and going back on previous agreements, company leadership must be held accountable for the human price of their decisions.”
At the start of the year, as part of its restructuring into Creative Houses, Ubisoft implemented a return-to-office mandate. All staff are to be back in the office five days a week, with an annual allowance of work-from-home days.
“We really want to strengthen onsite collaboration, the collective dynamic across teams,” SVP of studio operations Marie-Sophie de Waubert told GamesIndustry.biz. “We know that in-person collaboration and interactions are key enablers of efficiency, creativity, and collective success in this persistently selective market. It’s one enabler among others, but it’s really one we believe in.”
“We will, of course, discuss in due time with the different countries the modus operandi, and the flexibility linked to that evolution of our model,” she said. “But the objective is really linked to the quality of our games and the quality of our creativity. And it’s one enabler among others for the Creative Houses to reconnect with success and team engagement.”
CFO Frederick Duguet added that the company “will of course discuss with the employees and their representatives and all the teams,” but described the changes “really a matter of further boosting the collective performance for AAAs.”
In February this year, a three-day international strike took place in response to the restructuring and its return-to-office mandate, with at least 1,200 employees taking part (Marc Rutschlé, Solidaires Informatique union representative at Ubisoft Paris, confirmed the participation numbers to GamesIndustry.biz). Ubisoft said 528 staff had reported themselves being on strike in a separate statement.