Ubisoft Closes Halifax Studio Just After Employees Unionized [Updated]

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• Soulphite@reddthat.com ⁨2⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago

  “In Canada, it is unlawful for a business to close because its workers decide to unionize,” the statement reads. “While we are not saying that this is what happened here, we will be demanding information from Ubisoft about the reason for the sudden decision to close.”

  “Over the past 24 months, Ubisoft has undertaken company-wide actions to streamline operations, improve efficiency, and reduce costs,” the company said. “As part of this, Ubisoft has made the difficult decision to close its Halifax studio. 71 positions will be affected.

  Shady assholes would use that excuse to happen to close a branch that unionized… we know why…

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  • egerlach@lemmy.ca ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago

    At least Canada has some precedent of courts ruling against this sort of thing. Most of the precedent I’ve found related to the Quebec Labour Code, so it might not be the same with Nova Scotia, but the jist of how the Supreme Court has ruled is: Employers have a right to cease operations, but if that happens in the “prohibited period” when union negotiations are ongoing, that violates the right of association, and the employees can be entitled to damages.

    I don’t know how the facts of this case will line up with NS law, but I would think that given that there’s a Charter right underpinning these ideas that they probably have some kind of case here. The burden of proof will possibly be on Ubisoft to show that it was a “normal” decision, based on my quick reading of some of the precedent.

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• Thedogdrinkscoffee@lemmy.ca ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago

  I for one welcome the closing. I hope Ubisoft makes less, sells less and has to compete with whatever these righteous dudes come up with next. I hope their replacements are even more expensive, and they too have to close down due to raoid unionization.

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