Fired Rockstar staff rally in Glasgow as the final tribunal hearing opens; Rockstar cites gross misconduct

The final employment tribunal hearing over 31 former Rockstar employees fired in October 2025 began in Glasgow on September 10, 2026, and PC Gamer reported that the IWGB union held a rally in the city to mark the start. Eurogamer said some of the fired workers gathered outside with placards.

PC Gamer summed up the dispute. Rockstar's case is that the staff leaked details of "upcoming and unannounced" games in a public forum. The IWGB calls the firings union busting and says Rockstar also skipped any disciplinary process and gave the workers no chance to appeal. According to PC Gamer, the former employees want the tribunal to declare the dismissals unfair and to order reinstatement or compensation.

IWGB president Alex Marshall said, in remarks PC Gamer reported: "We believe Rockstar has tried to get away with Grand Theft Employment Rights." He said he hoped the hearing would "bring the truth to light" and let people see what happened to the workers who helped make GTA 6.

Former Rockstar programmer Rachel Crawford, who PC Gamer said worked on GTA 5 and Red Dead Redemption 2 and was among those dismissed, closed the rally with a speech. She said she was fired on October 30, 2025 "without warning", and described the case as a fight against fear: "But today, we are fighting fear."

Rockstar repeated its position in a statement to PC Gamer. A representative said that staff in the UK and Canada "were dismissed for gross misconduct following the sharing of confidential company information, not because of alleged trade union membership or activity," and that the company would defend the claims "vigorously".

PC Gamer said the hearing was set to run until October 16, and Eurogamer expected it to last five weeks. No ruling had been made. The opening statements Eurogamer published on September 11 are covered in our separate story, and the site's union vote story has since noted Kotaku's report that closing submissions were expected on November 17 and 18.