Condé Nast reaches agreement with workers ahead of Met Gala

Condé Nast reaches agreement with workers ahead of Met Gala

After more than a year of contentious negotiations, publishing giant Condé Nast reached a last-minute contract agreement with the labor union representing hundreds of staffers at titles such as Vogue, GQ and Glamour, staving off a planned work stoppage ahead of the Met Gala.

Though the two sides struggled for months to reach agreements on issues such as wages, parental leave and severance, talks sped up last week after the union vowed to strike on Monday — a move that would have hamstrung the company’s coverage of one of the biggest fashion and celebrity events of the year.

“The Met Gala is fashion’s big night; it’s like the Super Bowl,” said Alma Avalle, a Condé Union bargaining committee member. “Once the work stoppage entered the conversation, all of a sudden the company was like, ‘Okay, well we can give you a little more.’”

For example, she said, the company’s negotiators had previously dug in their heels on parental leave, saying its policy was plenty generous already. But in the past week, they agreed to increase leave from 12 weeks to 14 weeks.

“Obviously, that’s still not enough,” Avalle said. “But it’s a really great win for our members.”

The union contract, which is expected to be ratified this week, will also implement a $61,500 starting salary floor, an end to a two-tier system that shut some workers out of health care plans and other benefits, just cause protection, expanded bereavement leave, and $3.3 million in total wage increases, the union said.

Crucially, the contract settles the question of what happens to the roughly 100 laid-off Condé Nast staffers who have spent six months in limbo as the union negotiated their severance packages as part of bargaining. The staffers on what became known as the “layoff list” will get eight weeks severance, three months of health insurance coverage or a one-time lump sum payment in lieu of coverage, and an additional $1,000 payment.

The union has been ramping up pressure on the company for months.

In January, the union staged a one-day walkout to coincide with the announcement of the Academy Award nominations. Instead of analyzing Oscar snubs and surprises, staffers spent the day picketing in front of the company’s downtown Manhattan office, leaving nonunion editors scrambling to manage the coverage.

In late April, they marched in front of the West Village home of Vogue editor and Condé global chief content officer Anna Wintour, posting fliers that said “Anna wears Prada, workers get nada” and chanting “Condé Nasty you can’t hide, we can see your greedy side.” Days later, the union announced its intention to go on strike ahead of the Met Gala if they did not come to an agreement on the contract.

“A strong majority of Conde United members are ready to walk off the job to show management how serious we are about having a fair contract. If management doesn’t want us to strike, they know exactly what to do,” the union wrote on social media on April 29.

Avalle said the union had been in “marathon bargaining” sessions with the company since announcing the strike pledge, sometimes spending up to 16 hours a day in contract talks.

Avalle said the contract agreements was bittersweet, given that the colleagues on the layoff list would be leaving the company after ratification of the contract, but that “I wholeheartedly believe we got as much from the company as we could.”

Condé Nast Chief People Officer Stan Duncan said in a statement that the company is “happy to have a contract that reflects and supports our core values — our content and journalism; our commitment to diversity and professional development; our industry-leading hiring practices and our competitive wages and benefits.”

The union said, “When we fight, we win.”