Condé Nast infuriates NewsGuild with ‘Fired Four’ viral saga

The New York NewsGuild is furious at media juggernaut Condé Nast, accusing the company of “retaliatory” firings after four employees were fired for angering a powerful executive.

A group of Condé Nast employees confronted HR chief Stan Duncan outside the C-suite office at the company’s 1 World Trade Center headquarters last week to “demand answers” about recent layoffs at WIRED and Teen Vogue. Duncan did not like being bombarded by ordinary people and immediately urged them to return to their work areas.

“His response was to literally and figuratively shut the door in their face,” Susan DeCarava, president of the New York NewsGuild, told Fox News Digital.

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The interaction caught on camera resulted in the termination of the four employees involved. clip, published on social media This video, by TheWrap, has been viewed more than four million times on X as of Wednesday morning.

Bon Appétit digital producer Alma Avalle, who is also a NewsGuild of New York leader and trans activist, was terminated, as were Wired’s senior White House correspondent Jake Lahut, The New Yorker’s senior fact-checker Jasper Lo, and Condé Nast Entertainment videographer Ben Dewey.

DeCarava called the layoffs “grossly illegal tactics” designed to bust and intimidate unions.

“[Condé Nast] they basically fired them, fired them without reason, without justification, and in complete breach of contract; “This requires management to take certain steps before taking final disciplinary action, such as firing someone and causing them to lose their job.” DeCarava noted that other staff members who confronted Duncan were suspended without pay.

“We don’t want employers to think that just because the Trump administration seems determined to demonize the press, eliminate the free press, and find ways to stifle the independent press and freedom of expression, that the employer should use that as an excuse to basically ignore or eliminate the collective bargaining agreements that we have reached with them,” DeCarava said. he added. “How do you have a media publication or near-empire and not be able to answer a few simple questions from your own people?”

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Condé Nast executive Stan Duncan, seen here during London Fashion Week in February 2022, “leads all HR functions, including talent acquisition and development, diversity and inclusion, employment practices, HR technology and workforce planning, and strategic business partnering.” (David M. Benett/Dave Benett/Getty Images)

DeCarava believes Duncan responded as he did to “avoid being responsible” for decisions that disrupted the lives of Condé Nast employees.

“People are really upset. On a personal level, they’re upset for their colleagues. They’re also upset that this has larger consequences within Condé,” he said.

Duncan, Condé Nast’s chief people officer, “leads all HR functions, including talent acquisition and development, diversity and inclusion, employment practices, HR technology and workforce planning, and strategic business partnerships.” company biography.

Condé Nast said the employees were dismissed for just cause.

A spokesperson for Condé Nast told Fox News Digital: “Most people realize that the abuses union members exhibited last week would not be acceptable in any workplace. They were terminated for cause for violating our company policies. To blame the Trump administration for the consequences of their own abuses is quite absurd.”

DeCarava and the NewsGuild planned a rally Wednesday evening outside Condé Nast headquarters at the World Trade Center in New York. The plan is to call for the reinstatement of Avalle, Lahut, Lo and Dewey, who have been declared the “Fired Four” by their colleagues.

“These people were exercising their rights under federal labor law. They certainly had the right to do so under the contract … but also the principle of freedom of expression, accountability and transparency,” DeCarava said.

“What Stan Duncan could have done was, ‘I can’t meet you right now, but I’m happy we can meet another time. Let’s go on a date,'” she continued. “He could even have said, ‘You know what? I can’t talk right now, but I understand there’s a problem,’ and he wouldn’t have fired anyone, he wouldn’t have even disciplined anyone.”

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The New York NewsGuild planned a rally Wednesday evening outside Condé Nast headquarters at the World Trade Center in New York. (Universal Images Group via Plexi Images/GHI/UCG/Getty Images)

The Guild represents approximately 6,000 media professionals in New York, including staffers at the New York Times, The New Yorker, Thomson Reuters, The Nation, Condé Nast, TIME, PEOPLE, Consumer Reports and ProPublica.

While the Guild will push for the “Fired Four” and even launch a fundraiser to cover their expenses while they’re off work, other media industry professionals believe ambushing an executive isn’t the best idea.

RealClearInvestigations senior writer Mark Hemingway wrote in response to video of the incident: “This is horribly insubordinate and disrespectful behavior. No wonder they fired four people.”

Among the layoffs that initially plagued the “Layed Four” was the announcement that Teen Vogue would transition from a separate publication to becoming part of Vogue.com. The reduction in the number of staff that came with the change attracted the attention of the Guild, which stated that the left wing was firing minorities.

“Management plans to lay off six of our members, most of whom are BIPOC women or transgender, including Teen Vogue’s Politics Editor — continuing the layoff trend at Condé that disproportionately impacts marginalized employees,” the guild said in a statement.

The Guild continued: “Nearly all of this staff identifies as LGBTQ. As of today, there is only one woman of color left on Teen Vogue’s editorial staff.” “Condé’s leadership owes us and the Teen Vogue readership answers. We will get those answers.”

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“The reason we’re here today is because of the administration’s overreaction, which was absolutely retaliatory,” DeCarava told Fox News Digital.

Among the layoffs that initially plagued the “Layed Four” was the announcement that Teen Vogue would transition from a separate publication to becoming part of Vogue.com. (Neilson Barnard/Getty Images for Teen Vogue)

“I think Condé thought they might try to send us a message. And the message we got was that they were not to be trusted,” he continued. “I don’t think Condé fully understands what they’re triggering here.”

Condé Nast sent a memo to employees on Monday explaining that the company was trying to answer questions when the incident occurred.

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“While our labor relations team met with union representatives to answer their questions in accordance with the agreement, the union chose to hold a protest in the office simultaneously, at the urging of a non-employee NewsGuild representative who also attended the protest,” the memo said. The statement was included.

The statement continued: “In compliance with our company policies, we have taken disciplinary action against employees who engaged in harassing and intimidating behavior that interfered with our business operations. These decisions were not taken lightly.” “This conduct is also a violation of our collective bargaining agreement with the union, and we have filed a complaint with the National Labor Relations Board.”

Condé Nast and the Guild filed unfair labor practices charges against each other. A person at Condé Nast told Fox News Digital that the company had filed three previous complaints about similar behavior with the union this year. The insider also said that several minutes of the incident are missing from the viral video.