Condé Nast editorial staff confronted the company’s head of HR over layoffs and followed him down a hallway while he directed them to go back to work but did not appear to exhibit “extreme misconduct” as claimed by the company, according to video obtained exclusively by TheWrap.
TheWrap obtained two clips of the Wednesday afternoon episode in the hallway outside Condé Nast chief people officer Stan Duncan’s 34th-floor office at Manhattan’s 1 World Trade Center, where about 20 editorial staffers in the Condé United union tried to speak with him about the layoffs. Duncan declined to engage, leading to a tense interaction.
Condé Nast fired four of the employees who participated in the gathering — Jasper Lo, a senior fact checker at The New Yorker; Jake Lahut, a senior politics reporter for WIRED; Alma Avalle, a digital staffer at Bon Appétit; and Ben Dewey, a video staffer with Condé Nast Entertainment — and filed a federal complaint with the National Labor Relations Board against the union’s parent union, the National Labor Relations Board, for violating its contract.
“Extreme misconduct is unacceptable in any professional setting. This includes aggressive, disruptive, and threatening behavior of any kind,” the company said in a statement. “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.”
But the video does not appear to show “extreme misconduct” or threatening behavior. Instead, it shows a tense standoff with a few editorial staff asking to discuss layoffs at Teen Vogue, which was merged with the larger Vogue magazine staff on Monday and saw six unionized staffers and its editor in chief lose their jobs.
TheWrap also obtained a termination letter sent to the four staffers who were fired, accusing them of “gross misconduct and policy violations.”
The union said in a statement the company was violating the contract’s just cause protections and its “federally protected rights as union members to participate in a collective action.” “As journalists, it is our members’ job to hold power to account and ask difficult questions,” it said.
Susan DeCarava, president of The NewsGuild of New York, said in a new statement the video “speaks for itself.”
“Our members were clearly exercising their legally protected right to engage in concerted action,” she said. “Management is inaccurately spinning the events to justify firing four of our members in an attempt to intimidate our union. It is Condé management which is in fact threatening and aggressive, attempting to bully them into silence. Demanding answers of bosses as a group is a common collective action workers take when necessary to hold management accountable. For Condé to describe these actions as misconduct is outrageous and false.”
The videos offer a clearer depiction of the episode that led to the firings, showing the staffers asking Duncan to meet with him, and his refusals, but do not appear to show any form of “threatening” behavior.
Condé Nast did not respond to an immediate request for comment on what about the exchange amounted to “gross misconduct and policy violations” or why only four out of the group were fired.
One clip showed Duncan asking the staffers to stop “congregating” outside his office before trying to direct them to leave.
“What counts as congregating?” Lahut asked. “What’s your definition of congregating?”
“We’d appreciate if you would go back to the workplace, to your workplace assignments,” Duncan said.
“Is there a place that you’d be able to speak to us?” Avalle asked him. “Do you think we’re not worth speaking to, Sam?”
“Those are your words, not mine,” Duncan said, saying he could not speak to them on Wednesday due to “other things going on.”
“But they might be your beliefs!” Avalle said. “They’re not my beliefs,” he said.
The videos then showed Duncan walking down the hallway before gesturing to another part of the floor, telling the group he was in a meeting and could not meet with them.
“Well, we have some quick questions,” Avalle said. “If you answered them, we’d be happy to go back to our desks.”
“All right, leave,” Duncan said before walking back toward his office.
After Avalle pressed him on his refusal to answer questions, Duncan insisted: “I’ve directed you back to your workplace.”
“We’re concerned about our colleagues!” an employee said off camera.
Another clip showed Duncan standing outside his office, asking the group to “move forward” toward the other side of the floor before entering his office and shutting the door.
“We’d like you to answer questions,” Avalle said. “We’d love to move forward.”
They also highlight the often acrimonious relationship between Condé Nast and its union, which struck its first contract last year after more than a year of bargaining, a one-day walkout and demonstration outside its office, and a threat to disrupt chief creative officer Anna Wintour’s Met Gala.
The union has also pushed back on the company’s repeated layoffs over the years, including those at Pitchfork, GQ and Self.
You can watch the videos above.
