Over the past month, Nintendo of America has been struck with a number of complaints from its contract workers, alleging poor treatment and union-busting by the company.

Unsurprisingly, these complaints have not gone without notice by the higher ups. In an article published by Axios Gaming author Stephen Totilo, an internal message that the current President of Nintendo of America Doug Bowser sent to employees was shared. In this message, Bowser expressed finding the reports “troubling” and that the executive leadership team was “closely reviewing the content”. He also reiterated that Nintendo has “zero-tolerance for inappropriate conduct, including harassment, discrimination or intimidation”.

That said, it seems this statement seems to have done little to quell the concerns of the contract workers, one of whom mentioned to Axios Gaming that they found the message “disappointing” for not directly mentioning the core issue. Other former contract workers have come forward with even more stories about mistreatment from the company, one of which reads as follows:

They worked in Nintendo’s customer service center for several years through 2015. Strict time-off rules for contractors and limited pathways to full-time employment added to stress that contractors could be dropped at any moment. That pressure, they said, aggravated a heart condition. Ash says their moment of disillusionment came when their grandpa died: “I was told if I went to his funeral, I wouldn’t have a job when I came back.”

To end off the article, Totilo notes that Nintendo’s former contract workers are hopeful that these stories will help motivate change in Nintendo’s treatment, citing that “if any change is going to happen, it’s going to have to be a bad publicity thing”. If you’re interested in catching up on all the developments in more detail, you can read Axios Gaming’s full article here.

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