NetEnt Employees Enter Industrial Dispute After Evolution Merger

Last month, Evolution Gaming announced the final integration of the NetEnt brand into its portfolio, under the terms of a $2.3 billion acquisition deal, leading to NetEnt delisting its B-shares from the Nasdaq Stockholm exchange. As part of the restructuring of the business within the development of slots games and the closure of NetEnt’s Live Dealer games, Evolution said that it would be laying off some of NetEnt’s workers.

As soon as the takeover was completed, employees at the Live Dealer studio in Qormi were sent home. This came as a shock to many, considering that just three months ago, NetEnt committed to expanding its Live Casino operations, and trainees were still being brought it. However, one morning in December, employees were called in for a meeting with Evolution management and told that they were being let go. There was no representative of NetEnt present at the meeting.

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Calling an Industrial Dispute

Recently, the General Workers’ Union for Malta declared an industrial dispute with both Evolution Gaming and NetEnt, saying that the gambling icons failed to acknowledge the trade union as an employee representative.

“The GWU advises that these measures have become necessary given the gaming companies’ declared and manifest unwillingness to consult it, as the employees’ representative, in order to avoid mass redundancies in the igaming sector,” said the trade union in a press release.

“The companies are reportedly planning to lay off over 300 employees, with no effort being made to avoid redundancies, and by engaging in anti-union tactics.” The trade union claims that the layoffs, which are expected tobring cost-cutting measures worth €30 million at NetEnt, have not been handled correctly according to Maltese employee regulations. The two chief complaints that the trade union has against NetEntand Evolution Gaming are as follows:

• The software suppliers didn’t acknowledge the General Workers’ Union for Malta to be an official employee representative.
• NetEnt and Evolution Gaming didn’t provide details of the redundancy in writing. Legislation rules that employers need to give information about the reason for the redundancies, the number of redundancies planned and other important details.

 

Should NetEnt and Evolution be found to be in violation of these rules, they may face a fine of nearly €1,200 per employer.

Evolution Takeover Warned of Streamlining

An earlier Evolution Gaming press release, following the acquisition, hinted that the streamlining measures would have consequences within certain support units within NetEnt. “All measures are in line with the synergy goals which were previously communicated, in connection with the announcement of the offer, with annual cost savings of EUR 30 million compared to NetEnt's and Evolution's combined cost base as of the first quarter of 2020,” read the press release.

Four Evolution Brands

There will be four brands under the Evolution Gaming name: Evolution, Ezugi, NetEnt and RedTiger. In the interim stage, the current chief executive officer of NetEnt, Therese Hillman, will support the integration of the companies into the Evolution portfolio. She is set to leave after the first quarter of this year.

What NetEnt has to Say about Cash Noire Slot

The chief commercial officer for NetEnt, Andy Whitworth commented on the release of the exciting new game. “Cash Noire™ is a mechanically thrilling game set against the backdrop of a murder mystery that will leave players on the edge of their seats,” he said. “With the return of Avalanche and a strong feature set which ramps up to solve the crime, the gameplay has huge engagement and retention potential and we look forward to it being enjoyed by a wide variety of players,” added Whitworth. You can play Cash Noire slot at South African-friendly online casinos powered by NetEnt.

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