Earlier this week, we broke the information that Troy Baker didn’t reprise his role as Rhys in Borderlands 3 because Gearbox was unwilling to accept the actor’s union terms.
Since then, Gearbox has put out a press release claiming that Texas state legislation prevented the studio from doing so. You can learn the complete story on the above hyperlink, and we even have a rundown of occasions within the video beneath.
Actors’ union SAG-AFTRA has since despatched us a press release and a few follow-up clarifications difficult that declare.
“Gearbox’s reference to Texas law is a non-sequitur,” the assertion reads. “SAG-AFTRA’s contract doesn’t require Gearbox to disclaim anybody employment primarily based on their union standing. In truth, SAG-AFTRA’s contract doesn’t require employers in any state to disclaim anybody employment primarily based on union standing.
“We are totally conscious of the anti-labor, right-to-work-for-less legal guidelines that assist clarify why Texas has extra minimum-wage staff than any state within the Union. Employers in Texas and different right-to-work-for-less states nonetheless routinely work below SAG-AFTRA agreements with no authorized impediment in any respect. To the extent that Gearbox’s assertion displays professional ignorance, Gearbox may simply have requested that query throughout their discussions with SAG-AFTRA, which they didn’t.
“If certainly Gearbox meets or exceeds our contract requirements of their therapy of performers, which we extremely doubt, it will have value them nothing to signal the union’s settlement and retain the unique solid of their game. While SAG-AFTRA doesn’t touch upon member self-discipline issues, we observe that SAG-AFTRA members who work for sure non-union employers not solely deprive themselves of the advantages of a union settlement, they decrease the requirements for all their friends and facilitate the abuse and exploitation of performers.”
In a follow-up e-mail, VG247 requested what limitations existed that prevented Gearbox from accepting the union’s phrases, and what precisely these phrases would have been. According to SAG-AFTRA, the union would by no means have pressured Gearbox to make use of solely union actors – it will have simply requested that every one actors are handled with the identical equity, a time period Gearbox refused.
“Gearbox was unwilling to sign the contract and bind themselves to honoring those standards as reflected in a SAG-AFTRA contract,” SAG-AFTRA’s chief contracts officer Ray Rodriguez defined. “They declare to stick to these requirements anyway, however we have now no approach to confirm that, and, in any occasion, a non-binding dedication to deal with and pay staff pretty is just not sufficient. Workers deserve the safety of an precise contract.
“Our contracts don’t and can’t present completely different phrases and situations for staff primarily based on whether or not they’re members of the union. Non-members would take pleasure in all the identical contract advantages as members, whether or not in Texas or some other state. Nor would the contract stop them from hiring non-union actors.”
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