Rockstar HR manager claims he had "little interest" in staff's union membership status as fired GTA dev union-busting trail heats up

At an ongoing trial in Glasgow, a Rockstar Games HR manager testified that he expressed little interest in whether staff were union members before the company fired several union members. This occurred during a trial of 31 former GTA 6 developers who claim they were laid off as part of union-busting efforts at Rockstar. Rockstar maintains the terminations were due to gross misconduct and leaking confidential information.

Charlie Kinloch, the HR manager and co-studio operations director, was questioned about discrepancies in his statements regarding the employees' union status. Initially, he claimed he didn't know who was a union member, but later stated he had no way of definitively knowing. Kinloch, however, denied any intention to mislead the court and suggested the additional word "definitively" may have been added when prompted for context.

He also emphasized that he had a broader interest in general unionization efforts that could impact line managers, but little interest in individual unionization conversations. Kinloch stated his priority was to combat disparagement and misinformation about Rockstar, not unionization conversions. He defended his actions by citing the increased media speculation and public interest surrounding GTA 6's release, which he believed could harm the company if disparaging comments were made public.

Kinloch also mentioned other topics of concern, such as a proposed Rockstar Games union Twitter account and plans to speak with journalists, which he considered security risks.