Condé Nast fired four unionized employees Wednesday after they confronted the company’s head of human resources over layoffs tied to the folding of Teen Vogue into Vogue.com — a move that union leaders say signals the publisher’s escalating crackdown on internal dissent.
The firings came two days after Condé announced Teen Vogue would be folded into Vogue.com under new editorial chief Chloe Malle.
The move effectively ended the youth title’s 22-year run as an independent brand — prompting the exit of editor-in-chief Versha Sharma and at least six other staffers.
Condé said the transition would “keep Teen Vogue’s unique editorial identity and mission.”
But insiders and the NewsGuild of New York, which represents Condé Nast employees, blasted the move as a deliberate effort to “blunt the award-winning magazine’s insightful journalism at a time when it is needed the most.”
By Wednesday, tensions reportedly boiled over inside Condé’s headquarters. The mass media company fired four unionized employees that day after they confronted the company’s head of human resources.
More than a dozen employees gathered outside the office of Stan Duncan, the company’s HR head, demanding to discuss the Teen Vogue layoffs and broader cuts across the company, according to Semafor.
He reportedly told staffers they could not congregate outside his office and asked them to return to work.
When he tried to leave, one employee asked if he was “running away from the unionized employees,” a person present was quoted as saying.
During the exchange, another staffer pressed Duncan on whether Condé Nast was bowing to political pressure.
One worker demanded to know what Duncan and management were doing to stand up to the Trump administration, according to Semafor. The union suspects that the company folded Teen Vogue into Vogue.com in order to cut down on political reporting.
“We’d like you to move forward,” Duncan reportedly replied.
“We’d like you to answer our questions,” another staffer shot back.
The four employees fired after the incident included a senior fact checker for The New Yorker, a politics reporter for WIRED, a digital staffer for Bon Appétit and a video staffer, according to Semafor.
Condé Nast told the quarrelsome quartet they were being terminated for violating company policy.
The NewsGuild noted they were union leaders — Bon Appétit’s Alma Avalle, NewsGuild of New York’s first vice president; Wired’s Jake Lahut; The New Yorker’s Jasper Lo, outgoing first vice chair of the magazine’s union; and videographer Ben Dewey, former vice chair of the NewsGuild’s “CNE unit.”
In a statement to The Post, a Condé Nast spokesperson said: “Extreme misconduct is unacceptable in any professional setting. This includes aggressive, disruptive, and threatening behavior of any kind.”
“We have a responsibility to provide a workplace where every employee feels respected and able to do their job without harassment or intimidation,” the spokesperson added.
“We also cannot ignore behavior that crosses the line into targeted harassment and disruption of business operations. We remain committed to working constructively with the union and all of our employees.”
Condé Nast also filed a charge with the National Labor Relations Board against the NewsGuild of New York, accusing the union of “repeated and egregious disregard of our collective bargaining agreement.”
Union representatives denounced the firings as retaliation.
In a statement Thursday, the NewsGuild of New York and Condé United called the firings “egregious” and “a flagrant breach of the Just Cause terms of our contract.”
The union said the dismissals were “an unprecedented violation of federally protected rights as union members to participate in a collective action” and accused Condé Nast of “attempting to intimidate and silence our members’ advocacy for the courageous cultural and political journalism of Teen Vogue.”
Condé’s restructuring of Teen Vogue — which ceased print publication in 2017 — has drawn criticism across the media industry.
Once a glossy extension of Vogue under Amy Astley, Teen Vogue reinvented itself under Elaine Welteroth in 2016 as a progressive outlet covering race, gender, labor and climate politics alongside fashion and culture.
Its digital reporting won widespread praise for engaging Gen Z readers and tackling topics like immigration, reproductive rights and social justice — a sharp contrast to the luxury and lifestyle focus of Vogue.com.
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