21 employees of Steel Division: Normandy 44 developer Eugen Systems have gone on strike due to issues with pay.

In a post on the website of newly formed left-learning video games union STJV, the developers announced that they were taking action following "serious violations" of their rights.

The open letter says that these members of staff worked overtime but were not being compensated for it, with them even having to get lawyers involved to remind Eugen Systems of its obligations towards staff.

Furthermore, they allege that Eugen Systems actually decreased their salaries in order to take into account the overdue pay. This took place yesterday (February 14th), the letter claims.

By going public and striking, the 21 staff hope to bring attention to this situation from the community, the public and elected officials.

"We did not want the conflict, and we were even ready to accept a number of compromises," the staff wrote.

"But faced with such a lack of respect, it remains for us to make use of our most fundamental rights, failing to solve all the problems we face, will hopefully - on the merit of to draw the attention of players, public opinion or elected officials to the catastrophic situation of the industry for which we work."

Working culture at game developers is something that has come under increasing scrutiny in recent years, with practices such as crunch and overworking being denounced by many in the development sector. 

PCGamesInsider.biz has reached out to Eugen Systems for comment.