Dont Nod Entertainment’s top management, led by Oskar Guilbert and Julie Chalmette, initiated a redundancy plan on October 16. Presented as necessary to save the company, the aim is in fact to cut 69 jobs in order to make their employees pay for their own crass ineptitude.
In so doing, management has launched the negotiation of a method agreement, which will determine the terms of negotiation for the content of the plan itself.
Management hinders negotiations before they’ve even begun
The agreement proposed by management, which will be negotiated shortly, must be described for what it is: a rag.
- Time limits have been reduced to the bare legal minimum, so as not to allow the STJV, the CSE and the mandated experts to do their work properly. The timetable is so slapdash that the experts are expected to deliver their opinion even before the agreement with the STJV has been concluded, i.e. an opinion that is incomplete and constrained by time – the deadline set by management falling on the day after the Christmas holidays, which is unrealistic and irresponsible.
- The elected members of the CSE and the union delegation negotiating the PSE only have a very small number of hours of delegation, which are restricted as far as possible.
- Management refuses in advance to let the CSE call for additional meetings, granting itself the unilateral choice of if and when to hold them.
- No union communication channels are provided, and management confines us to the existing ones, i.e. an on site notice board and an intranet page buried by the tool’s referencing. It is impossible to inform almost 300 employees, 80% of whom work from home, with these derisory means.
What’s more, management is asking us to sign their amateur work starting this Monday, in order to expedite the PSE and hamper the work of the STJV and the CSE elected representatives. Their goal is to carry out their plan as brutally and quickly as possible, by trampling on all checks and balances, to fit in with their games release schedules.
Management must listen to employee representatives
It goes without saying that the STJV will use every means at its disposal to oppose this massive social slaughter, the likes of which has never been seen before in our industry. Behind these 69 jobs is yet another inept reorganization (the 4th in two years), which threatens all Don’t Nod workers in the long run.
We therefore demand that management rethink its position as soon as possible, in particular by including the following provisions in the method agreement:
- That the additional delegation hours be left to the good use of the CSE’s elected representatives, in accordance with the practice described in its internal regulations and which has been respected since it came into effect.
- For all meetings dealing with the PSE (R1, R2, R3 and R4; extraordinary CSSCT meetings; and any additional meetings):
- that elected representatives and substitutes be excused from their productive work for the two days preceding each meeting, without this being deducted from their delegation hours, so that they can confer with the designated expert and prepare the PSE meetings collegially;
- that elected representatives have the right to convene an additional meeting, following a vote by the CSE;
- that the experts, mandated by the CSE and the union, can take part in each of these meetings to fully assist the staff representation bodies;
- that the deadline for submitting expert reports be extended to coincide with the vote on the majority agreement and the delivery of the CSE’s opinion.
- For the union delegation, a total of 12 hours of delegation per meeting, distributed and used in the same way as provided for in the method agreement on the NAO 2024.
- That negotiation meetings be spaced out by a minimum of 48 hours, to allow the union delegation to pursue its obligation of democratic consultation of the section.
- That, as for the NAOs, the union section be given a discussion channel dedicated to the redundancy plan, to keep employees informed of the progress of negotiations.
All these demands are more than legitimate, and are merely intended to maintain a semblance of social dialogue. We urge management to return to serious terms, respectful of democracy and social dialogue, and to immediately stop twisting the arm of elected representatives already exhausted by years of contempt.
As a result, we are calling on Don’t Nod workers to mobilize on Monday October 28 with a walkout from 4 to 6 p.m., which will be an opportunity for Oskar Guilbert and company management to reflect on their personal responsibilities in the present situation, during the general “bi-monthly exchange space” meeting which we will not be attending.