STATEMENT FROM CONDE UNION ON LATEST ROUND OF LAYOFFS:

Through last week’s round of cuts, we are losing 16 members from SELF, Glamour and CNE. That brings the total number of members we’ve lost in just the last five months to 33. 

 In that same time period, Condé Nast has sold them, consolidated Teen Vogue and shuttered SELF. 

At Glamour, the layoffs’ impact is devastating for the future of the brand. Most of the editorial staff is gone, as well as key staff in design, audience development, and operations. It’s hard to imagine how Glamour will continue to exist as the women’s magazine with a nearly 100-year history of cultural relevancy and so few left to create its content.

Management is also eliminating Video Director roles, particularly at Vanity Fair. Affected members were offered the choice between a demotion or a layoff, a demoralizing proposition coming from a company that claims we are exceeding our revenue and profitability budgets.

We see layoffs happening over and over and disproportionately affecting our members of color as well as queer and trans members. These persistent cycles of layoffs harm our ability to cover issues critical to our readers, and as a result, Conde is platforming more homogenous voices. 

In an especially callous move, this round of layoffs included a talented member who has worked for the company for nearly nine years and is seven months pregnant. 

These cuts are not only heartless, but threaten to undermine the quality of the content at the core of Conde Nast's business. 

And for what? Management would rather pocket the savings from terminating our members – and letting years of experience, talent and hard work walk out the door – than protect the brands they say they care so much about. 

It’s also a continuation of what we’ve seen from Condé since we first organized: Union-busting. In November, Condé Nast illegally fired four of our members for acting collectively and demanding answers about layoffs. Since those terminations, we have stood firmly behind our affected members and are actively fighting the company’s contract violations through arbitration. 

As a union when we are attacked, we stand up and fight back. We will continue to organize, we will keep fighting for an even stronger contract when the time comes and we will continue to do whatever is necessary to remind management that there is no Condé Nast without us.