News
Nintendo of America Responds After Worker Files Labor Complaint
posted on by Alex Mateo
Nintendo of America responded in a statement to news website Kotaku on Thursday after an anonymous employee filed a complaint with the National Labor Relations Board in Redmond, Washington against Nintendo and contracting company Aston Carter on April 15. The complaint accuses Nintendo and Aston Carter of "concerted activities," discharge, surveillance, and making "coercive actions" against an employee - interfering with their right to unionize - within the past six months.
Nintendo's response reads:
"We are aware of the claim, which was filed with the National Labor Relations Board by a contractor who was previously terminated for the disclosure of confidential information and for no other reason. Nintendo is not aware of any attempts to unionize or related activity and intends to cooperate with the investigation conducted by the NLRB.Nintendo is fully committed to providing a welcoming and supportive work environment for all our employees and contractors. We take matters of employment very seriously."
Aston Carter is a staffing agency that has recruited customer service and administrative contractors for Nintendo.
Nintendo of America recently closed its offices in Redwood City, California and Toronto, Ontario in November. Kotaku reported that according to its sources, Nintendo's California office closing displaced about 100 employees.
The hybrid home and handheld console debuted on March 3, 2017. Nintendo released the new OLED model of its Nintendo Switch console on October 8. As of February, Nintendo has moved a total of 103.54 million Switch units worldwide, surpassing the Nintendo Wii, Nintendo 3DS and Game Boy Advance's lifetime numbers. The Switch is the company's third best-selling console behind the Nintendo DS and Game Boy.
Sources: National Labor Relations Board, Kotaku, Axios (Stephen Totilo), Stephen Totilo's Twitter account
