Former Irish GAME Employees Staging Sit-Ins At Closed Locations

@mandude said:

@MormonWarrior: Ní dhéanamh. Tá tú aon rud ach tuilli na tír.

Hey be nice...although in all honesty I'm as American as can be and just have Irish/British Isles/Northwest Europe roots.

You can't get blood from a stone.

@MB said:

@Branthog said:

...what, are there NO jobs in Ireland?).

That is more or less right. Unemployment is ridiculous right now, the Celtic Tiger is more or less the Celtic Kitten now with unemployment being as high as 25% in some areas. On top of that, inflation is through the roof. I recently spent a couple of weeks in Ireland and the prices for pretty much everything are astronomical - I was paying the equivalent of $8 USD or more for a pint in Dublin, with the prices being a little lower in outlying areas. Ireland is going through what Silicon Valley did ten years ago.

That being said, I don't know what the law is in Ireland, but I don't think GAME has any obligation to these former employees other than to pay them for the hours that they worked before the stores shut down. They are out of business, I don't know why people expect either GAME or the Irish government to pay them money that they aren't legitimately owed. They aren't entitled to anything unless there is something in Irish law that I'm unaware of. It definitely sucks, but that doesn't mean that they should be given some sort of severance package or any other benefits.

Under Irish law, GAME have very clear obligations to their former employees, insolvent or not. I'm not sure anyone would just assume otherwise. What do you think they are actually protesting for in the first place?

@mandude: People protest for all kinds of stupid reasons...that's why I said I wasn't sure if there was an Irish law that had something to do with this. Seems like a terrible law if you ask me. I think people should be responsible for their own financial situation and not count on corporations or the government (other people's tax dollars) to bail them out.

In the US, there is nothing like that. If a company goes out of business, people are out of a job - they aren't required to pay them any additional salary or benefits beyond what employees are owed for already working.

@MB: they weren't though, they wanted game or whoever was doing the administration stuff to do it since they didn't want to be a burden to the taxpayers. and a law protecting people from companies going out of business isn't a terrible idea, one that would not fly in America because America is the land of bootstraps but still

@MB: It is all well and good to say people should be responsible for their own financial situation, but that responsibility can only be carried out on the government's terms. That is not to say they should be lazy about it, but it only makes sense to me that if you are a tax paying citizen for a number of years, you should be entitled to see some of those taxes back, especially in a time as critical as this while you look for another job.

I can't imagine what makes it a terrible law. You'll find that the bottom rung in Ireland is not as low as the bottom rung in America. Destitution in Ireland is not even legally feasible.

@mandude said:

@MB: It is all well and good to say people should be responsible for their own financial situation, but that responsibility can only be carried out on the government's terms. That is not to say they should be lazy about it, but it only makes sense to me that if you are a tax paying citizen for a number of years, you should be entitled to see some of those taxes back, especially in a time as critical as this while you look for another job.

I can't imagine what makes it a terrible law. You'll find that the bottom rung in Ireland is not as low as the bottom rung in America. Destitution in Ireland is not even legally feasible.

Being poor in America is almost like living in a third world country because we do not have any of your fancy LAWS and HUMAN DECENCY. fuck you got mine is basically America's slogan

@Animasta said:

Being poor in America is almost like living in a third world country because we do not have any of your fancy LAWS and HUMAN DECENCY. fuck you got mine is basically America's slogan

It's strange stepping over crack addicts in alleyways in the middle of the day....but kind of fascinating.

@mandude said:

@Animasta said:

Being poor in America is almost like living in a third world country because we do not have any of your fancy LAWS and HUMAN DECENCY. fuck you got mine is basically America's slogan

It's strange stepping over crack addicts in alleyways in the middle of the day....but kind of fascinating.

These crack addicts are criminals. I would say put them in prison (because prison is the solution to most social problems), but that's going to come out of my taxes.

@MB said:

@Branthog said:

...what, are there NO jobs in Ireland?).

That is more or less right. Unemployment is ridiculous right now, the Celtic Tiger is more or less the Celtic Kitten now with unemployment being as high as 25% in some areas. On top of that, inflation is through the roof. I recently spent a couple of weeks in Ireland and the prices for pretty much everything are astronomical - I was paying the equivalent of $8 USD or more for a pint in Dublin, with the prices being a little lower in outlying areas. Ireland is going through what Silicon Valley did ten years ago.

That being said, I don't know what the law is in Ireland, but I don't think GAME has any obligation to these former employees other than to pay them for the hours that they worked before the stores shut down. They are out of business, I don't know why people expect either GAME or the Irish government to pay them money that they aren't legitimately owed. They aren't entitled to anything unless there is something in Irish law that I'm unaware of. It definitely sucks, but that doesn't mean that they should be given some sort of severance package or any other benefits.

America has an extremely high unemployment rate, too (especially if you look at the real measurement that the government replaced with this new bullshit measurement that makes it look like it's actually half what it really is) and I keep hearing how nobody can find any jobs. Yet, I don't know a single person who is unemployed that has actually bothered looking for a job -- whether they're looking for jobs working in a bakery, as a waitress, as a sales floor guy, flipping burgers, or a professional in the tech or similar industries. It's certainly a harder market in most cases with less leverage for employees and less capacity to move around at a whim, but still . . . (Also, what kind of positions do these people hold in the company that they have some sort of severance plan? That's not something one would expect someone selling crap on the floor to get. A regional manager, maybe, sure...)

Anyway, GAME likely has zero obligation about anything whatsoever. Granted, things may be a little different in Ireland, but the whole point of bankruptcy is that you are out of money and (almost) nobody is getting paid. Whatever assets are left are liquidated and those who have stakes in the company (investors, owners of their debt and credit, etc) get paid as much as possible. The last to get paid are usually the employees and in all the cases I was referring to, employees get fucked. That might not be right. Of course you deserve to be paid for hours you have worked, but when a company goes bankrupt, you are often going to find out that you just did a bunch of free work. And in such a case, their options are to play in-store protester and spend far more time trying to get blood out of a stone than the unpaid hours they worked or put those hours into pounding the pavement and finding a job at GAP or something.

It's completely shitty, but they have to be pragmatic about it.

@Blackhebrew2 said:

Is fadhb mhor í. Tá diomá an domhain orm. Táim ar son na hoibrithe . I mo thuairm tá na hoibrithe ag tabhairt amach ceart.

(Honours C in my Junior Cert Pre, how awful was it?) Aren't businesses required by law to give 2.5 weeks pay per year worked? The GAME in Limerick was probably the best game shop in the town, it's a pity.

Beatha agus sláinte!

Agreed, the Limerick shop was my go to shop if I needed to buy something immediately.

Further info and developments here:

http://www.thejournal.ie/were-resolute-and-ready-to-fight-game-staff-hold-sit-ins-around-the-country-399255-Mar2012/#slide-slideshow9

Hah! Stick in there!

between this and them cancelling all existing gift cards.... what a crappy company.

Good for them.

The people losing their jobs are the ones I feel sorry for. Game as a company, I couldn't give a shit about.

I'd have thought legally, they have a pretty good case.

If it had been a surprise that they were losing their jobs, I'd feel bad for them, but these people should have know that they would be out of work for months now, plenty of time to look for alternate employment.

@Kidavenger said:

If it had been a surprise that they were losing their jobs, I'd feel bad for them, but these people should have know that they would be out of work for months now, plenty of time to look for alternate employment.

The stores were told they'ld continue to operate, from what I heard the Irish stores were profitable and the really shit thing about all this is that the head office staff were all let go with redundancy before they went into adminstration.

GAME only entered into trouble recently, they still operate in other regions so why the hell should these people thing they're suddenly going to be let go, with nothing more than a:" piss off, get what you're legally entitled to elsewhere."

fair play to the staff, as long as they hold onto the stock I'm sure PWC and GAME will listen as they'll need it for liquidation.

Good for them. If they are entitled to something they should get it but I am not sure what sitting in the shop will do aside from getting some publicity.

Also, people who don't live in Ireland and know nothing about Irish law shouldn't comment about Irish law or about how hard it is to get a job in Ireland.

@wildcarddow: How much more clear could it have been than the moment they stopped selling EA games?

A game retailer not stocking Mass Effect 3? If that isn't a clear sign to get a new job, I don't know what is.

@Kidavenger: You make a fair point, but Irish law means they are owed something and if they fight (and hold onto the stock) we can hope they'll pay. It's sick, my Dad (a plumber) had to let one of his staff go and he paid the redundancy, so I don't see why a company like GAME should get away with not doing it.

Also where are they supposed to get jobs, a new cinema in Tallaght Ireland, located in the same building as one of the GAME stores affected had over 1000 applications. The problem these people face is being suddenly unemployed with no help at all from their ex employer, whether they had a month to prepare or not isn't really going to help now is it?

it's the responsibility of the parent company to pay it's employees and branch employees.

I would say put them in prison (because prison is the solution to most social problems),

I just walked past the store in the Illac centre in Dublin at 2pm and there were two shifty looking guys, hurriedly trying to break the lock on the shutter. No staff inside at the time. What is going on?

@emcgann: A robbery perhaps? D:

Man, this whole situation is piss poor. I hope they get this sorted out. I used to love in Ireland and still have a lot of family over there, and I know things haven't exactly been great. Kind of the opposite really.