{
  "id": 13157430,
  "title": "Rockstar HR manager claims he had \"little interest\" in staff's union membership status as fired GTA dev union-busting trail heats up",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/10/09/rockstar-hr-manager-claims-he-had-little-interest-in-staffs-union",
  "topic": "business",
  "section": "Business",
  "published": "2026-10-09T16:41:02.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "Eurogamer",
    "slug": "eurogamer",
    "url": "https://www.eurogamer.net/rockstar-employment-tribunal-hr-manager-little-interest-union"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "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.",
  "summary": "One of the witnesses in the ongoing Rockstar Games vs Garland & Others case has said he had \"little interest\" in evidence of unionisation efforts he was sent by an anonymous employee, prior to the developer laying off a substantial number of union Discord members. Read more",
  "key_points": [
    "HR manager Charlie Kinloch had little interest in staff's union membership status.",
    "Kinloch denied intention to mislead court during Rockstar trial.",
    "He prioritized combating disparagement and misinformation over unionization efforts."
  ],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}