Union Files Legal Complaint Over Ubisoft Halifax Studio Closure

CWA Canada, the union representing 61 of the 71 employees who lost their jobs last week when Ubisoft Halifax was shut down, have officially filed a legal complaint.

The complaint accuses Ubisoft of “shutting down its Halifax studio to keep out the union”.

“It’s against the law to stop workers from joining a union in Canada, but the slap on the wrist employers often get is not enough to stop this,” CWA Canada President Carmel Smyth said in a release. “The penalty should reflect the reality of intentional corporate bullying.”

Ubisoft has denied that the closure was related to its employees joining the Union. They claim that the closure had been in the plans “well before” the staff unionized. The France-based company said that the decision came as part of the company’s 24-month process to “streamline operations, improve efficiency, and reduce costs.”

What The CWA Is Looking For From The Board

The CWA says that after the layoffs were announced, the union’s lawyers contacted Ubisoft to demand records and information related to the claim that the decision was done entirely out of “financial necessity”.

The union is requesting that the labor law be updated to give labor boards, like the Nova Scotia Labor Board, the ability to force employers to reopen for a year. They also request that employers either help find other work for impacted staff or pay laid-off workers three years’ salary.

“Ubisoft took $12 million in taxpayer money from the government of Nova Scotia to nurture a generation of talent, and to build a tech industry,” Smyth said. “Now it’s walking away without so much as an apology.”

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