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Tech sector  is currently offering very little job security for workers. Gareth Murphy, Head of Industrial Relations and Campaigns with the Financial Services Union (FSU), has described the announcement by games company VELA that fifty staff are to potentially lose their jobs as disappointing and a worrying development for the games sector.

Mr Murphy has also called on Enterprise Ireland who have given financial assistance to the company to make a statement on the matter.

Gareth Murphy, on behalf of GWUI (a branch of the FSU), responded to the announcement today by saying:

“The FSU are supporting our GWUI members and staff in Vela as they handle this difficult news.

VELA have just launched a new game, so this announcement has come as a shock to workers.

Vela  has recruited  a lot of new staff over the last 18 months after successfully raising significant investment funds in 2021 including funding from Enterprise Ireland.

A worrying trend of employers letting staff go way too easily is emerging in the tech sector and now games. The tech sector  is currently offering very little job security for workers.

We are calling on the Government to review redundancy legislation with unions in order to make it harder for employers to make staff redundant and for Enterprise Ireland to meet with the Company.

While the Government is creating specific tax incentives for the games sector it is doing very little to increase the job security and working conditions for those in the sector and this needs to change.”

ENDS

FSU campaign for a living wage in the Game Sector starts to become a reality.

The Financial Services Union has welcomed the decision by games studio Gambrinous to sign up to be a living wage employer and for its support of a living wage floor for the wider games sector.

Game Workers Unite Ireland, a branch of the Financial Services Union (FSU)  in Ireland, launched a Living Wage campaign calling on all profitable games companies to ensure that no worker in their employment earns less than the Living Wage. Previous research by the union uncovered that 15% of staff in the sector appear to be earning less than the living wage. Many of these workers are in QA and testing roles.

Gareth Murphy, Head of Industrial Relations, and Campaigns at FSU, said:

“This is another important step for those working in the games sector. They are choosing to unionise to improve their working conditions and setting the living wage as the minimum entry level is important. This is a highly profitable and growing sector, and it is important everyone who works in it is able to live and work.

We really welcome and applaud Gambrinous studio for taking this progressive stand.”

Colm Larkin, owner of Gambrinous commented:

“I’m proud to add Gambrinous to the list of game studios committed to supporting the Living Wage in Ireland. Every person working in games is creative, dedicated and highly skilled and deserves no less. I look forward to more Irish studios making the same commitment to the Living Wage movement.”

Concluding Gareth Murphy, Head of Industrial Relations, and Campaigns at FSU, said:

“The Government can also play its part and ensure that any state support, like the Digital Games Tax Incentive needs to be linked to decent jobs and minimum conditions like a living wage. The Government can also legislate quickly for the ‘right to engage’ derived from the High Level Report on Collective Bargaining.”

ENDS

GWUI – FSU has written (HERE) to leading employers in the sector this week to request they pay the Living Wage to all staff, agency workers and contractors.

Readers will know that we have been campaigning for the Living Wage of €12.90 per hour to be the wage floor for the games sector here in Ireland. We have engaged with the Government and the Low Pay Commission to link the Living Wage to the proposed Digital Games Tax Credit Statement of Quality Employment (HERE) and we will continue this work.

Our research in the sector highlights that between 15-20% of those working in the sector are earning less than the Living Wage. These workers are most likely to work in QA, locations and admin/customer support.

The Living Wage is a wage which makes possible a minimum acceptable standard of living. The Living Wage is an evidence-based rate of pay which is grounded in social consensus and is derived from Consensual Budget Standards research which establishes the cost of a Minimum Essential Standard of Living in Ireland today.

The UN Declaration of Universal Human Rights, 1948 Article 25, outlines this basic right as:

Everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate for the health and well-being of himself [herself] and of his [her] family, including food, clothing, housing and medical care and necessary social services, and the right to security in the event of unemployment, sickness, disability, widowhood, old age or other lack of livelihood in circumstances beyond his [her] control.

Games is a highly profitable industry. The Living Wage should be a wage floor for the sector. No worker should be left behind.

Our activists are meeting this Saturday in Dublin to continue our organising and unionising efforts here across the sector. If you are not a member of the union and want to see better working conditions in the sector for all then join us here https://www.fsunion.org/join/