Condé Nast workers scored a major victory on Friday, as more than 500 staffers at a dozen publications secured voluntary recognition of Condé Nast Union.
The new company-wide union win means that every Condé Nast publication is union. The Condé Nast Union covers full- and part-time editorial, video and production workers at Allure, Architectural Digest, Bon Appétit, Condé Nast Traveler, Epicurious, Glamour, GQ, Self, Teen Vogue, them., Vanity Fair and Vogue, as well as Condé Nast Entertainment. It also includes more than 100 subcontracted employees who work for a third-party staffing agency.
Four other Condé Nast publications have organized in recent years: The New Yorker Union, representing editorial workers, such as copy editors and fact checkers, but not staff writers, was formed in June 2018. They were followed in March 2019 by newsroom employees at Pitchfork and Ars Technica, and in April 2020 by those at Wired.
In March, workers at the company’s remaining non-union publications and Condé Nast Entertainment, the in-house production studio, announced that they were unionizing. With a super-majority of support, they sought voluntary recognition from management. Negotiations culminated in a count of union cards on Friday, conducted by a neutral third party.
Condé employees cited a lack of job security, low and stagnant wages, lack of career growth opportunities, unacceptable company-wide return-to-office policies, and the pervasive use of subcontracting as core organizing priorities.
“We are ecstatic to have finally achieved this historic win, and proud to have fought to include myself and so many other long-term employees who have been unfairly divided between staff and ‘permalance’ work,” said Condé Nast Entertainment employee and Organizing Committee member Jess Lane. “My colleagues and I have shown through our organizing that we will not settle for these precarious working conditions. A lot of our problems exist across our industry and we hope that other companies and workplaces take notice.”
“We could not be more thrilled to welcome over 500 Condé Nast members to our union, joining their unionized peers at The New Yorker, Ars Technica, Pitchfork and Wired,” said NewsGuild of New York President Susan DeCarava.
“Condé Nast’s storied publications would be nowhere without the hard-working employees that put in the work day-in and day-out, and we are proud to say that they are now entirely union. We are so proud to fight side-by-side with our newest members to ensure they secure the strongest possible contract.”
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