Condé Nast editorial employees have formed a new collective bargaining unit under NewsGuild that covers more than 500 workers in editorial, video and other production arms at titles including Vogue, Bon Appétit, Vanity Fair, Architectural Digest and GQ.
Once certified, Condé Nast Union will represent one of the largest groups of workers under NewsGuild.
Their motivation is to tackle “low pay, lack of diversity and equity, heavy reliance on contract workers, and absence of clear standards for performance evaluation and career development,” according to the Guild’s release Tuesday. Management is being requested to recognize the union.
The new union includes editorial, video, and production workers at Allure, Architectural Digest, Bon Appétit, Condé Nast Traveler, Epicurious, Glamour, GQ, Self, Teen Vogue, them., Vanity Fair, Vogue and Condé Nast Entertainment. All employees are included, both part-time and full-time.
NewsGuild reports that the union will be one of the largest in recent history, with over 500 employees once it is certified. Other Condé brands have been organizing since The New Yorker made its union push in 2018; workers there were joined the following year by colleagues at Ars Technica and Pitchfork, and in 2020 by those at WIRED.
“The George Floyd protests of 2020 ignited a company-wide reckoning over race and equity, beginning with Bon Appétit, and sparked long-overdue conversations about the lack of equity in the workplace and the need for substantive changes, which were found to be widely felt across the brands,”The guild stated this in a press release.
Kaylee Hammonds Senior Manager, Social Media at Epicurious “The current workplace culture at Condé Nast allows many people of color and women to be consistently silenced by management. It’s no longer enough to play-act a commitment to diversity, or apply bandaid solutions to issues of discrimination. We’re unionizing today across the company so that this hypocrisy that currently thrives at Condé Nast can be remedied.”
Said a Condé Nast spokesman Tuesday: “Today we were informed that some members of our Condé Nast teams are intending to form a union. We plan to have productive and thoughtful conversations with them over the coming weeks to learn more.”
Workers want more job security, better pay, clearer pathways to advancement, and greater workplace transparency. They also want more transparency in the workplace. “a seat at the table to challenge corporate cost-cutting measures like layoffs, pay cuts, and department consolidations.”
According to the union, it has submitted a petition to management Tuesday morning and requested voluntary recognition by the New York Guild as their representative.