The guild that represents Condé Nast employees accused the company of “illegal terminations” of four journalists and union leaders who confronted the media firm’s management over recent layoffs, which included folding Teen Vogue into the Vogue website.
The statement from the NewsGuild of New York and Condé United happened shortly after Condé Nast confirmed that it had fired the four staffers “due to conduct that violated company policies,” citing an internal review.
The termination of the four journalists came a day after they led a group of about a dozen employees to gather outside the office of Stan Duncan, Condé Nast’s head of human resources, and demanded to speak with him about recent cuts at the company, which included the Teen Vogue decision.
Earlier this week, the company announced that the 22-year-old brand would be merged into Vogue and the flagship brand’s website. Though the announcement insisted that Teen Vogue would remain a “distinct editorial property,” the magazine’s editor in chief is set to leave Conde Nast and Vogue head of editorial content Chloe Malle will take over.
On top of that, several other Teen Vogue staffers were targeted for layoffs, prompting the union to condemn the plan.
“Management plans to lay off six of our members, most of whom are BIPOC women or trans, including Teen Vogue’s Politics Editor — continuing the trend of layoffs at Condé disproportionately impacting marginalized employees,” the guild said in a statement on Monday, adding: “Teen Vogue now has no writers or editors explicitly covering politics.”
According to Semafor, Duncan told the gathered staffers that they couldn’t congregate outside his office and urged them to get back to work. Jake Lahut, a Wired senior reporter, asked Duncan what his definition of congregating was. He was fired later that day.
Additionally, another union member suggested that the consolidation and gutting of Teen Vogue would affect the company’s political coverage, while another employee – who was later terminated – pressed Duncan on what Condé Nast was doing to stand up to the Trump administration amid its crackdown on the media.
“We’d like you to move forward,” Duncan said at one point, prompting a since-fired union rep to respond: “We’d like you to answer our questions.”
Condé Nast released a statement Thursday acknowledging that it had fired four journalists over the incident and that it had subsequently filed an unfair labor practice charge with the National Labor Relations Board against the union.
“Extreme misconduct is unacceptable in any professional setting. This includes aggressive, disruptive and threatening behavior of any kind,” the company stated. “We have a responsibility to provide a workplace where every employee feels respected and able to do their job without harassment or intimidation. We also cannot ignore behavior that crosses the line into targeted harassment and disruption of business operations. We remain committed to working constructively with the union and all of our employees.”
In response to Condé Nast’s claims, the guild revealed the names of the four employees who were fired and accused the company of unlawfully terminating them, calling the action “egregious” and a “flagrant breach” of the union’s contract.
Besides Lahut, the other staffers whom the guild said were “illegally fired” are Bon Appetit digital producer Alma Avalle, New Yorker senior fact checker Jasper Lo and Condé Nast videographer Ben Dewey.
Avalle, a vice president of the guild, posted on social media that she was, to her knowledge, the “only trans woman in our union and the only trans woman on editorial” at the time.
“I was acting as a union member and concerned employee when I questioned Stan Duncan, well within my legal rights,” she added. “I don't love pointing to my identity, but the company saying that I was behaving ‘aggressively’ when I was calmly asking questions feels like a clear transphobic dog whistle.”
“Through these illegal terminations, Condé Nast management is attempting to intimidate and silence our members our members’ advocacy for the courageous cultural and political journalism of Teen Vogue, as well as diverting attention away from the obvious lack of corporate leadership at the company,” the guild said in its statement on Thursday.
“Management’s attempt at union-busting, using intimidation and grossly illegal tactics to try to suppress protected activity, will not stand,” NewsGuild of New York president Susan DeCarava said. “The NewsGuild of New York has zero tolerance for bad bosses who harass, target and disrespect our fellow Guild members. We represent nearly 6,000 media workers across the tri-state area and we stand firmly in solidarity, ready to fight for the rights of our members illegally fired from their jobs at Conde.”
Semafor’s Max Tani observed that Conde’s strategy to “take a hard line with unionized staff comes amid a broader post-pandemic attempt by bosses to claw back power they feel was ceded to employees” in recent years amid relaxed COVID-era work arrangements and culture shifts.
“The confluence of pro-employee cultural forces and shaky economics in the media business inspired many employees to form unions or deploy more aggressive union tactics,” tani added. “But years of challenging media economics and changing cultural sentiments have emboldened bosses to adopt a more confrontational approach with employees.”
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