Original Coverage & Source Attribution: www.gamedeveloper.com
Ubisoft Montreal workers in the Ubisoft Workers of Montreal union have started a petition “to preserve hybrid work,” according to a statement posted on GWU Montreal social media. As of Wednesday, the petition has reached more than 300 signatures from Ubisoft employees. Many of the signatures were collected in person, GWU Montreal said.
“Today marks the public launch of the Ubisoft Workers of Montreal (UWM) campaign, with a first action: a petition to preserve hybrid work,” GWU posted. “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!”
Ubisoft announced in January that it was calling all employees to return to the office five days per week. It also said it was enacting layoffs, delays, and studio closures. Ubisoft, at that time, had just secured a $1.25 billion investment from Tencent. The “rightsizing” was intended to “reclaim [Ubisoft’s] creative leadership, regain agility and drive sharp rebound.” Ubisoft said in its January press release that the return to office policy was intended to encourage collaboration.
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Ubisoft’s Paris-based employees went on strike shortly after the announcement to protest the policy.
When Ubisoft Montreal team lead David Michaud-Cromp commented publicly on the policy—suggesting there may be another reason other than productivity for the layoffs—Ubisoft put the veteran employee on unpaid leave. He was fired a week later. Ubisoft said in a statement to Game Developer that “sharing feedback or opinions respectfully does not lead to a dismissal.”
It continued: “We have a clear Code of Conduct that outlines our shared expectations for working together safely and respectfully, which employees review and sign each year. When that is breached, our established procedures apply, including an escalation of measures depending on the nature, severity and repetition of the breach.”
GWU Montreal is instructing Ubisoft workers interested in signing the petition to do so in person by “meet[ing] your colleagues during [break] hours”.
Update 9/30: A previous version of this story mistakenly stated that GWU Montreal was urging employees to meet colleagues during “work hours.” It has been updated to accurately state that they are being urged to meet during “break hours.”
