STJV alleges Don't Nod management 'brutally' advancing toward layoffs, encourages staff walkout

French union STJV called on Don't Nod staff to hold a two-hour walkout today, October 28. The move comes as STJV is in negotiations with the Life is Strange studio's management, which is considering potentially eliminating 69 positions in a reorganization spurred by weak financial performance for the first half of 2024-2025's fiscal year.

Previously, the union encouraged game developers to fight for better working conditions. It did so with Don't Nod following the reorganization news, and in September by telling Ubisoft's French staff to strike in protest of the studio's new return-to-office mandate.

On October 24, the union said management's upcoming proposal for negotiation terms "must be described for what it is: a rag," and part of a larger effort to stifle proper discussion.

That plan allegedly gives STJV, mandated experts, and France's Social and Economic Committee (CSE) the "bare legal minimum" of time to present their argument to Don't Nod, by a post-Christmas deadline deemed "unrealistic and irresponsible."

Allegedly, management preemptively refused to let the CSE call for additional meetings, and has not allowed for extra communication channels between unions beyond an on-site notice board and obscure intranet page. As STJV notes, Don't Nod has a near-300 person staff (nearly all of which work remotely), which makes these channels "impossible" to use.

"Management's goal is to carry out their plan as brutally and quickly as possible," wrote STJV, "by trampling on all checks and balances, to fit in with their games release schedules."

STJV wants to prevent Don't Nod's "social slaughter"

Along with calling on Don't Nod management to "rethink its position," the union released its own set of provisions to the studio's proposal. Chiefly, those demands call for itself and other labor groups to have the proper amount of delegation time needed to craft an argument (12 hours total), and a minimum 48-hour window between negotiation meetings.

Additionally, it wants union representatives to have a right to convene for an additional meeting with France's Employment Protection Plan, for CSE-mandated experts to join in on said meetings, and for those experts to have an extended deadline to submit their reports.

These demands, said STJV, are "more than legitimate, and are merely intended to maintain a semblance of social dialogue. We urge management to return to serious terms...and to immediately stop twisting the arm of elected representatives already exhausted by years of contempt."

STJV's full demands for Don't Nod management, and its full accounting of events, can be read here.