More than 150 riot workers parade to protest against forced arbitration and sexist culture [Updated]

More than 150 unhappy employees of Riot Games left the League of Legends publishers in Los Angeles today to protest the company's position on forced arbitration. Standing on a parking lot at Riot Campus, employees held placards and delivered passionate speeches.

"We are calling for the end of forced arbitration for all past, current and future Riot employees, including contractors and ongoing litigation," said Jocelyn Monahan, Riot's Social Watch Strategist, in a statement. an interview with Kotaku. Standing in front of a sign stating "Rioters Unplugged," a piece on Riot's "Riot Unplugged" internal meetings, Monahan will later tell colleagues gathered through a megaphone, "asking to feel safe do not not give you the right.

Monahan had an important point that she wanted to make her colleagues understand, even to those who had chosen to stay at their desks and continue to work. "We are what makes Riot awesome. I want us to feel solidarity and connection with each other. I want us to feel connected. I want us to feel that our voices are heard and heard in a way that matters. Colleagues took turns speaking through the megaphone, many admitting being afraid to participate and being labeled "riot". was worried. I thought, "What if I do not go there and no one shows up?" I am a little less worried about it now. "Others are showing their support with the hashtag #riotwalkout, which hundreds of people are tweeting.

Today's protest seems to be the first walkout for a big gaming studio like Riot. The company's management allows its employees to participate and urges managers to be conciliatory and understanding. In an email to Kotaku This morning, a representative from Riot added, "We respect the rioters who choose to withdraw today and do not tolerate any form of retaliation for their participation or not."

In the months since KotakuInvestigation revealing endemic sexism at Riot Games, five employees or former employees sued the company, in part, for violating California's law on equal pay. Last week, Riot filed a motion to force two of his current employees to arbitration, an extrajudicial forum in which a lawsuit does not take place in front of a jury. Recently, 20,000 Google employees went out to end forced arbitration; A few months later, Google announced that it would comply, but only in cases of harassment. Last week, Riot announced that it would now allow new employees to withdraw from forced arbitration due to harassment and would consider extending it to current employees "as soon as the ongoing litigation is over." resolved".

In pronouncing a speech, a current employee of Riot announced that she was leaving the position in two weeks. "I give up because I do not want to see people protected by high-ranking people in Riot," said the employee. Two senior employees of Riot Games, including the chief of operations, were retained in the company (after two months of unpaid absence), despite several complaints against them to human resources and accused of everything, ranging from gender differentiated promotion strategies. catch the ball in Kotaku reports. She added: "I do not even spend time with my husband who works here because I fear that it will be labeled as a red flag," she added.

Nearly half a dozen of them said that if they rarely spoke at Slack or at meetings, they felt compelled to publicly express their concerns about Riot's culture.

The signs at the demonstration said, "You must not take all this to do what is right," "Be the company you say you are" and "Silence one of us, you shut us all up. ". Kotaku report earlier today, employees have expressed several reasons why they would like to participate. While several were specifically demonstrating their support for the two plaintiffs in the lawsuits against Riot, others were frustrated only eight months later. KotakuThe investigation, they did not see any concrete signs showing that Riot dismantles his sexist culture. One said, "I have not seen any results from our diversity and inclusion efforts in Riot. I have not seen any metrics or figures indicating that the situation has improved and no project has been completed. "

Another employee, who is a man, explained, "Although I am fully convinced that Riot is doing everything in his power to put an end to the arbitration process, it is useful to present a unified and unified voice. violent. As a person with a voice, I lend it to others who feel they do not have one or to be ignored. "

Updated: 06/05/2019, 20:58 ET: Towards the end of the walkout, Monahan announced that if Riot's management did not commit in favor of a forced arbitration from here on May 16 – date of the next meeting of Riot Unplugged – she and the other people involved in the walkout will go further action. Another walkout organizer, writer Riot, Indu Reddy, was not able to delve into the details of what it will mean, but said: Kotaku that "we have plans and days that we plan and that we have commitments for which we have answers".

Reddy also said that despite Riot's statement, retaliation is a constant concern. "We could face unforeseen consequences despite leadership's own commitments, because leadership is an entity and there are a lot of Rioters in the organization," she said. "We are going to prepare for retaliation. I think it would not be smart not to plan. But we do not assume it either, because the leaders said they would not react – for this one anyway. We will continue to ask for confirmation for future events. "

The atmosphere at the walkout, however, was generally positive. Robin, an organizer of the Los Angeles chapter of the Game Workers Unite advocacy group, expressed hope that today's walkout will also inspire game developers from other companies.

"The fact that this action is going so well – there were people at the microphone, everyone was so excited, there were so many people telling their story – I think it will inspire a lot of other people in companies to realize that they have a lot of power over working conditions, "said Robin Kotaku. "This is going to be a great example for people to know that they can improve their living conditions."