Source: Ubisoft Barcelona
Union members from Ubisoft's Barcelona offices have filed a suit against the company for its return to office mandate.
As first reported by GamesIndustry, unions under Ubisoft's AAA and mobile studios in Barcelona have filed a lawsuit against the game publisher over remote work policy changes.
The changes will allegedly compel employees to return to their office at least three days a week. Meaning, employees who rely on the current monthly remote working guidelines, which include the ability of workers to use up to 60% of their work days while based at home, as well as those who exclusively work from home will be affected.
According to GamesIndustry, the unions claimed that management had failed to put forward a proposal during negotiations, leading to the lawsuit which the unions filed last October 14.
The unions, in affiliation with the Spanish labour group Confederacion General del Trabajo (CGT), had demanded that Ubisoft revert the return to office mandate and ensure that remote working is protected by a collective agreement.
The unions claimed that Ubisoft failed to present any actual tangible benefits to the revised policy, although Ubisoft had reportedly stated that the mandate was for “team creativity” and “better communication."
Ubisoft workers around the globe have been vocal about their disagreement with the return to office mandate. Notably, 700 employees from Ubisoft France participated in a three-day strike back in September, with Ubisoft Milan employees following suit just last month for a one-day strike.
Ubisoft Barcelona is the first studio to sue over the divisive return to office mandate, but the suit is just one of many lawsuits Ubisoft is being charged with this year. Just last November 4, two gamers from California sued Ubisoft for fraud after its controversial shutdown of the game The Crew. Earlier in October, another separate pair of players sued Ubisoft for for allegedly sharing user data with Mark Zuckerberg's Meta through the Ubisoft+ service.
