Ubisoft has been dragged to court by its AAA and mobile studios’ unions in Barcelona. The unions made the decision over the publisher of Assassin’s Creed’s recently announced change to its remote work policy.
The unions filed the lawsuit in affiliation with the Spanish trade body Confederación General del Trabajo (CGT). The union’s demand is simple, they want Ubisoft to rescind the return to office mandate and ensure protection for remote work through a collective agreement.
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In an email sent to GamesIndustry.biz, the unions claimed that both sides were supposed to negotiate but that Ubisoft management had yet to put a proposal forward since the filing of the lawsuit on October 14.
The changes to its remote work policy will see Ubisoft employees report to the office at least three days a week. The new policy replaced the previous monthly remote work guideline that allowed employees to work remotely 60% of the monthly work days.
The aggrieved union members claimed Ubisoft made the decision “suddenly and without transparency”. According to the union, the decision can lead to logistic challenges for their member living in cities far from their offices. They also claimed the offices are not prepared to accommodate all remote workers.
When Ubisoft announced the new policy, they said the decision was taken to boost “team creativity” and foster “better communication”. However, the unions argued that the studio’s “management has consistently failed to present any actual tangible benefits to back this measure”.
The decision by the union to take Ubisoft to court has received mixed reactions with some asking where the power of unions starts and ends, and if it was right for an employee to dictate to the employer if they should work remotely or in the office.
