What is ‘union busting’ and what are your protections from it?

The Independent Workers’ Union of Great Britain (IWGB) have accused Rockstar, the tech company currently working on Grand Theft Auto 6, of ‘union busting’ in sacking 31 of their employees. GMLC campaign volunteer Deborah Okyere asks: what does this mean, and what are our protections from union busting in the law?

What is a trade union and what does it do?

Under UK employment law, employees, workers and contractors have a right to join a trade union. From October 2026, under the Employment Rights Act 2025, employers are under a new duty to advise employees of this right across England, Scotland and Wales.

A trade union is an organisation with members who are usually workers or employees. It looks after their interests at work by doing things like:

• Negotiating agreements with employers on pay and conditions (if recognised by the employer);
• Discussing big changes like large scale redundancy with employers;
• Discussing members’ concerns with employers;
• Going with members to disciplinary and grievance meetings;
• Providing legal advice and other services, like insurance and enhanced sick pay, to its members;
• Co-ordinating strikes and industrial action when workers want to take action.

Unions also provide a collective voice for their members in national political debates and in campaigning for change, and usually have democratic structures that allow members to shape their trade unions’ actions and policy.

The right to join a union is protected under the Trade Union and Labour Relations (Consolidation) Act 1992 (applying to England, Scotland and Wales, but separately legislated in Northern Ireland). This act defines a trade union’s principal purpose as regulation of relations between workers and employers or between workers and employer’s associations. Section 146 of that Act protects workers from being subjected to detriment related to trade union membership or taking part in trade union activities.

Though “trade union detriment” is the usual formal phrase for when an employer takes disciplinary action related to someone’s trade union activity, “union busting” is the more colloquial term. It is used when an employer takes actions to prevent workers from forming, joining or sustaining trade unions. This is done to weaken the power of trade unions or their attempts to grow their membership in a workplace. One form of union busting would be firing employees or workers because they are attempting to join or form a union or who have formed a union to decrease membership and dissuade others from joining/forming their own.

Section 152 of the Trade Union and Labour Relations (Consolidation) Act 1992 states that the dismissal of an employee shall be regarded as unfair is the reason for it was that the employee:

1. Was, or was proposed to become a member of an independent trade union;
2. Has taken part, or proposed to take part, in the activities of an independent trade union at an appropriate time;
3. Had made use, or proposed to make use of a trade union service at an appropriate time

as well as some additional provisions.

What’s going on at Rockstar?

In October 2025, Rockstar dismissed 31 employees from their Edinburgh, Dundee and Lincoln offices who were working on the video game Grand Theft Auto 6. Reports suggest that these employees were in a larger group on Discord and were discussing unionisation at the company. The trade union IWGB claim that Rockstar had dismissed these employees because of their involvement in this Discord group, which would be unlawful. Employees at Rockstar had been required to sign NDAs relating to their work on Grand Theft Auto. Rockstar claim that the employees were let go for sharing confidential information in breach of the NDAs, and that they were unaware of the existence of the Discord group where unionisation was being discussed.

Dr Paolo, senior lecturer in digital curation and computational creativity at Kings College London, has commented that NDAs are “used at every level in gaming, creating a culture of secrecy that makes investigating working conditions nearly impossible”. Representing the dismissed employees, IWGB deny that any confidential information was leaked, and argue that the manner in which the employees were dismissed raises suspicion that the actions were union busting. IWGB has claimed that the workers were “dismissed with very little, if any, notice and in quick succession, without suspensions, disciplinary hearings or the chance to respond to allegations before they were dismissed”. IWGB has brought legal claims against Rockstar for the dismissals and the cases are awaiting hearings.

Similar allegations against other tech companies

Whilst Britain has stronger trade union protections than the US, where many tech companies are based, there have been several incidents where British tech workers have been dismissed recently in circumstances which raise suspicion of union busting practices.

TikTok have faced similar allegations of union busting following mass redundancies last year. A dispute began in August 2025, when the union had planned to ballot several hundred of TikTok’s moderators and quality assurance agents from the trust and safety team on forming a ‘collective bargaining unit’. The team’s workers have to view violent and extreme content including child abuse, war crimes and executions to protect TikTok’s users from viewing disturbing content.

One week before TikTok moderators were due to be balloted, around 400 moderators were made redundant. Around 250 of the workers laid off were represented by the Communication Workers Union, which has a tech workers branch as well as branches across postal delivery. TikTok claim that the redundancies are due to an increased use of AI to moderate content, leading to global restructuring – entirely unrelated to the union vote. They claim that 91% of violating content is removed automatically using AI, which makes keeping the same numbers of workers unnecessary. However, the timing led groups including the tech justice non-profit Foxglove to describe the move as “union busting”, and many of the workers await Tribunal hearings.

As the new Employment Rights Act 2025 comes into force over coming months and years, these stories are a reminder that ensuring workers have access to real enforcement is a core part of any package of rights.

Tips from GMLC

1. Learn about your rights at work. If you aren’t sure what rights you have at work, you can read more about your basic rights on the TUC’s website. The new Employment Rights Act 2025 is changing your rights at work – you can read more about the changes on the ACAS website.
2. Join a trade union. Trade unions are the main place where you can get free legal advice tailored to your situation if you’re having problems at work, but you have to join before the problem arises or they may not be able to help. Join now to protect yourself in future. It’s usually best to join a union appropriate for your sector or workplace, so you might want to use the TUC’s tool to find the best union for you.
3. If you think you are experiencing trade union detriment, get advice. Trade unions can offer free legal advice and support through disciplinary processes, as well as collective action if you are being treated unfairly. GMLC also offers free, one-off legal advice to Greater Manchester residents who are not in a trade union – get in touch with us by emailing reception@gmlaw.org.uk with some details of your problem, or by leaving your name and number at 0161 769 2244.
4. If you are dismissed, act quickly. Time limits can be complicated, but most claims in the Employment Tribunals (ETs) can only be brought within 3 months less a day of the detriment happening, so you will need to get advice quickly to work out if you have a claim. There is a mandatory requirement for most employment tribunal claims to go through a process called Early Conciliation operated by ACAS. This process must be started before the ET deadline expires. The period spent on early conciliation can last up to 12 weeks and is designed to try to get the parties to reach a settlement to avoid the need to take an ET claim. Early conciliation operates to pause the ET time limit and if there is no settlement a certificate is issued by ACAS and claimants have at least 1 month from then to file a claim at the ET. ACAS also have access to translators. The ACAS Early Conciliation number is 0300 123 1122 or you can apply online.

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Photo credit: Nick Efford, CC BY-SA 3.0.