Ubisoft hasn’t had the very best couple of years. A string of flops and disappointments means the corporate isn’t in the very best form because it heads into 2023, so in an try to get everybody firing final week CEO Yves Guillemot despatched an electronic mail to workers telling them “The ball is in your courtroom”. It didn’t go down effectively.
It was, the truth is, about as unhealthy as one in every of these emails can get, doing the whole lot from blaming staff for poor outcomes to advocating for additional work. Consequently, the union Solidaires Informatique—which has members at Ubisoft’s Paris workplaces—has referred to as for a strike subsequent week.
The union is asking the strike to not solely protest Guillemot’s dismissive feedback, however to additionally name for higher pay and situations on the firm, specifically a ten% payrise to account for the inflation disaster and the implementation of a four-day working week.
Right here’s their assertion in full:
CALL FOR STRIKE UBISOFT PARIS
FRIDAY JANUARY 27-AFTERNOON
In accordance with Guillemot:
THE BALL IS IN OUR COURT
(however the cash stays in his pocket)
In his newest assertion, Mr. Guillemot pronounces a worrying future for Ubisoft.
If the request to staff to be “particularly cautious and strategic together with your spending” is ironic contemplating the corporate’s editorial technique of the previous few years, it isn’t humorous. When Mr. Guillemot speaks of “attrition” and “organizational changes”, it means: workers reductions, discreet studio closures, wage cuts, disguised layoffs, and many others.
On a number of events, Mr. Guillemot is attempting to shift the blame (as soon as once more) onto the staff; he expects us to be mobilized, to “give it our all”, to be “as environment friendly and lean as doable”. These phrases imply one thing: additional time, managerial strain, burnout, and many others.
Mr. Guillemot asks loads from his staff, however with none compensation. • Have salaries saved up with the excessive inflation of current years?
• What in regards to the implementation of the 4-day week?
• What has been put in place for the groups that come out of the productions exhausted (like these of Simply Dance or Mario)?
We demand:
– a right away 10% enhance for all salaries, no matter annual will increase, to compensate for inflation. With the lots of of tens of millions of euros obtained from Tencent, there may be cash within the coffers of the employers.
– the advance of working situations, with specifically the implementation of the 4-day week.
– transparency on the evolution of the workforce, each regionally and globally.
– a powerful dedication towards disguised dismissals and a condemnation of abusive managerial insurance policies that push staff to resign.
And since Mr. Guillemot and his clique solely perceive the connection of energy, Solidaires Informatique is asking on the staff of Ubisoft Paris to go on strike on Friday 27 January within the afternoon, from 2 to six pm.
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Next fiscal year, which runs through March 2024, Ubisoft said it plans to release at least one additional unannounced big game besides Skull and Bones, Avatar, and Assassin’s Creed Mirage. Guillemot calls it “the biggest pipeline in Ubisoft history” in his email to staff and said he’s excited to share more at this year’s E3 conference in June.
