WORKERS dismissed by Rockstar North, the makers of the Grand Theft Auto computer game, launched a legal challenge at an employment tribunal today.

Known as the Rockstar 34, they were dismissed in October last year after being accused of breaching the company’s confidentiality rules by discussing sensitive information on a Discord server.

But the workers argue that the decision had more to do with their efforts to unionise the workplace.

Now, represented by the Independent Workers Union of Great Britain (IWGB), 23 of the workers have taken on the owners of the multibillion-pound Grand Theft Auto (GTA) franchise, arguing that they have been targeted and blacklisted over their trade union activism.

Speaking ahead of the tribunal case opening in Glasgow, former Rockstar employee and IWGB member Jason Lewis said: “For almost a year, the truth about what happened to us has been buried by Rockstar and surrounded by speculation.

“Now we finally get the chance to put it on the record.

“None of us imagined that talking to each other about our working conditions would turn our lives upside down and catapult us into the centre of a global media storm.

“As the world prepares for the release of GTA VI, we are reliving the heartbreak of being thrown out of a project we poured so much of our lives into.

“We lost our jobs, our income, our community and the chance to see the game through to release after spending years helping to build it. It was devastating.”

A Rockstar spokesperson insisted that the workers had been “dismissed for gross misconduct following the sharing of confidential company information, not because of alleged trade union membership or activity,” adding: “We reject the claims and will defend them vigorously before the tribunal.”