The STJV sues Amplitude Studios, which is trying to force its way through on AI

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The STJV is suing Amplitude Studios, which is trying to force its way through on generative AI by trying to avoid any real “social dialog”. The CSE (committee of workers’ representatives) of Amplitude Studios will be joining the union in its demand.

The situation

In 2025, Amplitude’s Chief Production Officer started organizing workshops about generative AI with some of the workers’ representatives, the stated objective being to study the potential gains and risks of AI.

At the end of the year, the CPO submitted an “internal charter” on AI to these workers’ representatives, asking them to proof-read. This charter would have opened up access to AI to all of Amplitude Studios’ workers, with an extremely lax framework. Consequently, and because they are not subordinate to the CPO as elected representatives, they preferred temporizing by indicating in January 2026 that it would be better to take the time to gather some employee feedback, and that it appeared the subject was potentially very impactful on working conditions, that it belonged to the framework of negotiations with labour unions.

Amplitude Studio’s union representative of the STJV answered to confirm that management should open negotiations on the topic.

As an answer, management announced to the CSE that they would proceed with a “consultation” on this charter and the CPO cut off any additional dialogue with the workers’ representatives on the topic, including a request they sent to discuss this in person to avoid any miscomprehension that could have emerged from the email exchange.

The facts

Since January 2026, Amplitude Studios’ management is deploying all its creativity to avoid any kind of “social dialog” with the union, notably by constantly adjusting its plans : from a first try to consult the CSE on the charter (which would have de facto become equivalent to internal regulations) to a “governance committee” able to set the consultative framework of the CSE.

The CSE kept repeating multiple times with deliberations voted in meetings that management should negotiate on the topic with the STJV, but none of the adjustments made to the different plans tackled the main issue : to conduct proper “social dialog”.

Finally, the CSE voted to sue the employer and have their plan suspended as it judged the consultation illicit without any prior negotiations.

This finally brought the employer to open up negotiations with the union, at the end of April. But at the same time, management decided to start a pilot phase of Github Copilot, impacting about ten people in the company, and instead of bothering themselves with consulting the CSE, they stuck to simply informing them of the fact. During this information, the CSE also learned that management had already started developing an internal production tool using Claude Code, without ever consulting nor informing the workers’ representatives !

For the cherry on top, during the opening meeting for the negotiations about the framework for AI use at Amplitude Studios, the employer conditioned holding the negotiations to maintaining their pilot phase without waiting for the negotiations to conclude, despite the fact that suspending any related decisions during negotiations is a legal obligation. It is interesting to note that in their mail sent after the meeting the employer lied, pretending that the meeting was “interrupted”, trying to put the blame on the failure of discussions on the union, despite the fact that the meeting was mutually put to a close because we were not able to find an immediate solution.

It seems to us that they voluntarily made the opening of the negotiations fail in order to drop their obligations and simply do whatever they want, without having to really have a dialog with the workers.

The union therefore made a final demand of the employer to suspend its pilot phase decision and to reopen negotiations on the subject.

The employer did not respond to that demand and we have been forced to sue them to obtain a favourable outcome. The CSE (committee of workers’ representatives) of Amplitude Studios will be joining the union in its demand.

Behind the technicalities of “social dialog”, an observation : a denial of democracy

The topic is very technical : social relations at work are codified, with for example different representative bodies with their own procedures (the CSE have to be informed and consulted, labour union negotiate, etc) which can cumulate or substitute themselves according to various criteria… The previous summary of the facts shows the legal complexity of “social dialog”.

However, the preamble to the 1946 Constitution, repeated in the preamble to the 1958 Constitution, is very clear with its Article 8: “Any worker participates, through their delegates, in the collective determination of their working conditions as well as the management of companies.” It appears to us that the spirit of this text is to endorse a commitment to democratic management of the Republic’s companies.

With management choosing since January any way to not engage in negotiations, despite a plethora of opportunities to really bring the subject to the table, we can only make one observation : it appears to us that Amplitude Studios’ management has chosen on this topic to deny workplace democracy.

Yet isn’t it the workers of the company who create its value, and who could find themselves forced to use AI in the near future? These workers voted for and made the STJV representative, which is therefore the legitimate interlocutor to represent their interests to the employer. Management, however, was not elected.

The decision to conduct a pilot phase for generative AI must be suspended, and Amplitude Studio’s management must reopen negotiations.

It is not acceptable that on generative AI – a subject agitating society because of the social, labour or even ecological questions it raises – an employer decides to force their way through without negotiating in good faith with the legitimate representatives of their workers.

This might seem trivial when our comrades from Spiders saw their jobs disappear with the studio’s liquidation ( Spiders’ liquidation – a tale of social destruction – STJV ), that those from Ubisoft have to face a litany of scandals and social turmoil ( Ubisoft’s former executives trial: behind excuses, accountability – STJV ), when the comrades of Kylotonn are right now fighting to save their jobs with the studio announcing a PSE (layoff plan) last week ( Kylotonn : pedal to the metal, heading straight for disaster – STJV ), or many other struggles ; too many. But all of these situations share a common thread : they emerge when the bosses decide to do as they will without considering their workers’ opinions.

At Amplitude Studios, we must fight for our rights and to be considered with dignity to avoid the same pitfalls ; everywhere in the industry, we must fight to defend workplace democracy to save our jobs and improve our working conditions.

Amplitude Studios: a collective victory at the mandatory 2024 negotiations

In a tough context for the video games industry, the STJV section of Amplitude Studios is pleased to report the encouraging results in the 2024 annual mandatory negotiations (NAO) with the studio’s management.

Along the past year, a delegation comprised of the STJV union delegate at Amplitude Studios and workers representatives from the CSE led the NAO 2024 to an agreement with the studio’s management.

These negotiations were concluded on an equal footing with management who, despite initial resistance, opened up to discussion thanks to the joint efforts of the STJV section and a keen interest shown by the studio’s workers.

An agreement was signed on June 17th, 2024, bringing Amplitude’s workers:

  • The abolition of the ETAM (employee) status and the promotion of every employee to the executive (Ingénieur et Cadre, IC) status of the SYNTEC collective bargaining agreement;
  • A minimum raise of 1400€ on the annual gross salary per employee for 2024 ;
  • A raise of internships stipend to 1300 € per month, as well as a raise of work-study contracts’ wages to a minimum of 1321 € ;
  • Better on-call duty working conditions for the relevant teams, including the provision of company smartphones ;
  • The introduction of a cap to the top-level salaries raises budget: Directors/Chiefs/Head of…

The switch to the Ingénieur et Cadres (executive) status for everyone is merely the correction of a pervasive injustice in our industry: everyone of us is practicing a skilled job, requiring autonomy and expertise. This status gives, among other things, access to better compensations in case of medical leave or layoff, as well as better retirement contributions. Find out more about the Syntec status in our practical guide.

Studio management also conceded the opening of a deep reflection about the studio’s compensation policy with the studio’s labor organizations (STJV section and workers’ representatives). It started in June 2024 and will last until the next NAO in March 2025.

The STJV section at Amplitude Studios thanks the employees for their involvement, and stays available for any feedback or questions they might be able to help on.

In these troubled times both for the video games industry and for France’s political landscape, it is easy to lose hope against rising inflation and attacks on our social rights. This victory stands as proof that together, we can obtain better work conditions for ourselves.

We encourage workers to join unions, and to get involved in fighting to preserve our rights and gain new ones.