Condé Nast Union Brings Work Stoppage Pledge to Pressure Management in Bargaining Session | Exclusive
Unionized staffers at Condé Nast, which have been engaged in months of bitter bargaining with management over an inaugural contract and proposed layoffs, have pledged to walk off the job and strike if leadership refuses to compromise, TheWrap has exclusively learned.
The union is escalating tensions with the management side of the table with the Met Gala just a week away. The Guild guarantees a busy week, full of union actions to exert pressure on leadership, with a majority of members pledging “to do whatever it takes.”
“Management apparently thinks it’s acceptable to threaten us with more job losses and waste our time at the bargaining table,” writer and producer for Bon Appétit Alma Avalle said in a statement. “We are ready to do whatever it takes to get our contract and protect jobs. It’s up to management to decide what happens next.”
On Monday, the union’s bargaining team is showing a video announcement to management that includes Guild members discussing the reasons they are “ready to strike.”
“I’m ready to strike for a fair contract. I’m ready to strike for fair wages. For a better future at Condé,” members say in the video.
Just last week, the union protested around global chief content officer Anna Wintour’s neighborhood in an effort to bring “management closer to an agreement.”
The union initiative was designed to “elevate the union’s message of their contract fight as rich execs like Wintour look to cut jobs,” the union said in a statement. They handed out leaflets that read, “Bosses wear Prada: workers get nada.”
In November, CEO Roger Lynch announced that Condé Nast would be cutting around 5 percent of its workforce, which would impact around 270 employees. Over 400 unionized Condé Nast employees staged a walkout in January in response. Then in March, according to the union, management added five more staffers to their layoff list, just two weeks after Lynch said he had no further plans for job cuts in an interview with Axios.
The Condé Nast Union and management have been engaged in a bitter feud for months, with leadership attempting to separate the layoffs from coming to a new contract agreement for all union members. According to union regulations, layoffs have to be negotiated as part of a completed contract.
The union says that it has been working diligently to pass proposals in an effort to reach a completed contract, however, “management has moved at a glacial pace on negotiating a fair contract that honors members’ work,” the union said in a statement. “But it’s the layoffs management really wants, focusing on slashing staff and treating those workers as if they are not human beings but costs on a spreadsheet.”
In March, Condé Nast management filed an unfair labor practice charge against the union, arguing that they are engaging in “bad-faith, surface bargaining” by not addressing their “workforce reduction proposal seriously.” In response, the guild called for a protest inside executives’ offices to combat additional layoffs that they say were threatened at a contentious bargaining session.
“Our members are committed to getting this contract,” the President of the NewsGuild of New York Susan DeCarava said in a statement. “York. “They will not settle for anything less than a deal that honors the value they bring and their contributions to Condé’s success.”
The Condé Nast Union represents employees at brands like Allure, Architectural Digest, Bon Appétit, Condé Nast Traveler, Epicurious, Glamour, GQ, Self, Teen Vogue, Vanity Fair, Vogue, Them, and Condé Nast Entertainment. The Guild has been bargaining its first contract since certification in 2022.
TheWrap has reached out to Condé Nast for comment.
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