• by Ray Schultz , November 12, 2023

A group of 60 union members went to Conde Nast offices to protest the layoffs of 5% of the company’s workforce.

The participants delivered a petition signed by over 350 people, demanding a say in the recently announced restricting at the company. The document was delivered to Stan Duncan, chief people officer, and copies were left at the office of Roger Lynch, Conde Nast, the CEO, AFL-CIO New York City Central Labor Council announced. 

"The action we took today was to send the company a strong message that we want answers and transparency and we will not stop until we get them," says Alma Avalle, who works at Bon Appetit and is on the union's bargaining committee. "Our members deserve so much better."

In addition to demanding”no illegal layoffs,” the union seeks a meeting with Lynch. 

The unionized employees are demanding a “town hall with Lynch with an open mic Q&A to address employee’s concerns about the restructuring announced on October 10 and the subsequent layoffs announced on November 1,” the petition states .

On Nov. 1, Condé Nast announced layoffs afthat would 270 workers. The action was prompted by digital advertising pressures, a decline in social media traffic and a move by the audience to short-form video, Lynch was quoted as saying in the New York Times.

The restructuring included the departure of Agnes Chu as president of Condé Nast Entertainment.

Lynch wrote that “the members of our top-line leadership across editorial content, audience development, branded content and video will move into a new structure” before the end of the year.  This will allow our editorial talent to work across all mediums as true digital content experts, enabling these leaders to tell stories and elevate our journalism across all platforms directly."