UPDATE: Condé Nast Union Members Reaches "Tentative Agreement" Ahead of Met Gala
Following months of negotiations for a fair contract, union members state that it’s “up to management to decide what happens next.”
Update: On the morning of the Met Gala, the Condé Nast Union announced that it had reached a “tentative agreement” with Condé Nast on its first contract. Among the agreed-upon terms are a minimum starting salary of $61,500 USD for positions throughout the company, an end to the two-tier permalance system (where job benefits differ among employees), two more weeks of family leave and a total of $3.3 million USD in wage increases.
For those on Condé Nast’s layoff list, employees who lose their jobs will receive eight weeks of severance and either three months of COBRA coverage or in lieu of insurance, a lump sum payment. The agreement still needs to be ratified by union members before being made official.
After months of contentious negotiations with leadership for a fair contract, unionized Condé Nast employees and NewsGuild of New York announced on Monday that they are ready to “walk off the job” if management does not compromise. Just six days ahead of the Met Gala — “fashion’s biggest night,” chaired by Anna Wintour and heavily produced by Vogue — 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,’” according to TheWrap.
Condé United took to Instagram to share a video in which its members shared their reasons for threatening to strike. “I’m ready to strike for a fair contract. I’m ready to strike for fair wages,” several employees stated.
“The workers behind @vogue, @vanityfair, @teenvogue, @bonappetitmag, @glamourmag, @gq, and more are fed up with management’s laser-focus on layoffs and insulting contract proposals—such as a laughably low minimum salary proposal that wouldn’t even go into effect until next year,” the caption reads. “If management doesn’t want us to strike, they know exactly what to do!”
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In November, Condé Nast announced plans to lay off over 5% of its employees. CEO Roger Lynch stated that more than 300 workers would be affected as the company looked to prioritize “cost reductions.” In January, more than 400 Condé Nast Union members staged a one-day walkout to protest the company “engaging in regressive bargaining and breaking the law in bargaining by rescinding an offer that they had previously made around layoffs,” per THR.
In March, Condé Nast leadership increased the total number of planned layoffs, placing five more employees on their list, according to a press release. This news comes after Lynch stated that the company did not have plans for “any further reductions,” in an interview with Axios the same month.
In another effort to reach an agreement last week, union members held a strike in Wintour’s New York City neighborhood, where they handed out signs that read “Anna wears Prada; workers get nada.” The demonstration intended to “bring attention to their fight for a fair contract against her and other executives at the company,” per a release.
“Management apparently thinks it’s acceptable to threaten us with more job losses and waste our time at the bargaining table,” said Alma Avalle, a writer and producer for Bon Appétit, via TheWrap. “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.”
At the time of writing, Condé Nast has not offered a statement.
