Condé Nast Accused of ‘Illegal Firings’ of Union Employees Who ‘Demanded Answers’ About Layoffs, Teen Vogue Shutdown; Company Says Staffers Engaged in ‘Extreme Misconduct’
The already tense relations between Condé Nast and the union representing many of its editorial workers hit a new flash point this week.
The media and publishing company said it fired four employees “due to conduct that violated company policies.” In addition, Condé Nast said it filed a complaint Thursday with the National Labor Relations Board against the NewsGuild of New York, the union that reps the employees, for its “repeated and egregious disregard of our collective bargaining agreement.”
The NewsGuild-affiliated Condé United union blasted the terminations as “illegal” and said the four employees had a right to “demand answers on this week’s abrupt layoffs at multiple brands” including the consolidation of Teen Vogue under the main Vogue site.
The flare-up came after Condé Nast on Monday announced that Teen Vogue’s website would be folded into Vogue.com and that Teen Vogue’s top editor, Versha Sharma, would be exiting. Chloe Malle, the recently hired head of editorial content at Vogue U.S., is now overseeing what’s left of the Teen Vogue brand. The company had discontinued the print edition of Teen Vogue in 2017.
According to the union, late Wednesday night, Condé Nast’s VP of labor relations notified the NewsGuild that the company was “immediately terminating four Condé United members for engaging in the protected concerted activity of gathering in their 1 World Trade Center office to demand answers on this week’s abrupt layoffs at multiple brands including Wired and the consolidation at Teen Vogue.” According to the company, there were no layoffs at Wired this week.
The union continued, “These egregious terminations are a flagrant breach of the Just Cause terms of our contract and an unprecedented violation of their federally protected rights as union members to participate in a collective action. Through these illegal terminations, Condé Nast management is attempting to intimidate and silence 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.”
Condé Nast characterized the sequence of events differently. The company said in a statement, “Extreme misconduct is unacceptable in any professional setting. This includes aggressive, disruptive, and threatening behavior of any kind. 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.”
The Condé Nast employees, who the union says were illegally fired, are: Alma Avalle, writer and digital producer at Bon Appetit, as well as NewsGuild of New York first vice president, trans activist and union leader; Jake Lahut, Wired senior reporter covering the Trump White House; Jasper Lo, senior fact checker at the New Yorker, as well as a U.S. Army veteran and outgoing first vice chair of the New Yorker Union; and Ben Dewey, videographer at Condé Nast Entertainment and former vice chair of the CNE unit.
“Management’s attempt at union-busting, using intimidation and grossly illegal tactics to try to suppress protected union activity, will not stand,” Susan DeCarava, president of the NewsGuild of New York, said in a statement. “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 Condé.”
On Monday, the NewsGuild of New York and Condé United said they “strongly condemn” Condé Nast’s consolidation plans for Teen Vogue, “a move that is clearly designed to blunt the award-winning magazine’s insightful journalism at a time when it is needed the most.” According to the union, the company laid off six of its members, most of whom are “BIPOC women or trans,” including Teen Vogue politics editor Lex McMenamin.
The media and publishing company said it fired four employees “due to conduct that violated company policies.” In addition, Condé Nast said it filed a complaint Thursday with the National Labor Relations Board against the NewsGuild of New York, the union that reps the employees, for its “repeated and egregious disregard of our collective bargaining agreement.”
The NewsGuild-affiliated Condé United union blasted the terminations as “illegal” and said the four employees had a right to “demand answers on this week’s abrupt layoffs at multiple brands” including the consolidation of Teen Vogue under the main Vogue site.
The flare-up came after Condé Nast on Monday announced that Teen Vogue’s website would be folded into Vogue.com and that Teen Vogue’s top editor, Versha Sharma, would be exiting. Chloe Malle, the recently hired head of editorial content at Vogue U.S., is now overseeing what’s left of the Teen Vogue brand. The company had discontinued the print edition of Teen Vogue in 2017.
According to the union, late Wednesday night, Condé Nast’s VP of labor relations notified the NewsGuild that the company was “immediately terminating four Condé United members for engaging in the protected concerted activity of gathering in their 1 World Trade Center office to demand answers on this week’s abrupt layoffs at multiple brands including Wired and the consolidation at Teen Vogue.” According to the company, there were no layoffs at Wired this week.
The union continued, “These egregious terminations are a flagrant breach of the Just Cause terms of our contract and an unprecedented violation of their federally protected rights as union members to participate in a collective action. Through these illegal terminations, Condé Nast management is attempting to intimidate and silence 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.”
Condé Nast characterized the sequence of events differently. The company said in a statement, “Extreme misconduct is unacceptable in any professional setting. This includes aggressive, disruptive, and threatening behavior of any kind. 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.”
The Condé Nast employees, who the union says were illegally fired, are: Alma Avalle, writer and digital producer at Bon Appetit, as well as NewsGuild of New York first vice president, trans activist and union leader; Jake Lahut, Wired senior reporter covering the Trump White House; Jasper Lo, senior fact checker at the New Yorker, as well as a U.S. Army veteran and outgoing first vice chair of the New Yorker Union; and Ben Dewey, videographer at Condé Nast Entertainment and former vice chair of the CNE unit.
“Management’s attempt at union-busting, using intimidation and grossly illegal tactics to try to suppress protected union activity, will not stand,” Susan DeCarava, president of the NewsGuild of New York, said in a statement. “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 Condé.”
On Monday, the NewsGuild of New York and Condé United said they “strongly condemn” Condé Nast’s consolidation plans for Teen Vogue, “a move that is clearly designed to blunt the award-winning magazine’s insightful journalism at a time when it is needed the most.” According to the union, the company laid off six of its members, most of whom are “BIPOC women or trans,” including Teen Vogue politics editor Lex McMenamin.