Video footage shows Condé Nast employees confronting the company’s head of human resources — part of an incident that management characterized as “extreme misconduct” leading to four unionized staffers’ firings, a framing which their union rejects.
The clips, filmed Wednesday outside HR chief Stan Duncan’s 34th-floor office at One World Trade Center in Lower Manhattan, show about 20 editorial staffers asking to discuss layoffs tied to Teen Vogue’s merger with Vogue.com.
Duncan declines to engage, repeatedly directing employees to “go back to the workplace” before retreating into an office, video obtained by the Wrap shows.
Hours later, Condé Nast fired four union members who participated in the confrontation — Jasper Lo of the New Yorker, Jake Lahut of Wired, Alma Avalle of Bon Appétit and Ben Dewey of Condé Nast Entertainment — citing “gross misconduct and policy violations.”
Condé Nast also filed a federal labor complaint against the NewsGuild of New York.
One clip shows Duncan asking the employees to stop “congregating” outside his office before telling them to leave.
“What counts as congregating?” Lahut asks. “What’s your definition of congregating?”
“We’d appreciate if you would go back to the workplace, to your workplace assignments,” Duncan replies.
“Is there a place that you’d be able to speak to us?” Avalle asks Duncan. “Do you think we’re not worth speaking to, Sam?”
“Those are your words, not mine,” Duncan replies, saying he could not speak to them on Wednesday due to “other things going on.”
“But they might be your beliefs!” Avalle says. “They’re not my beliefs,” Duncan replies.
The exec is then seen walking down the hallway before pointing 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 says. “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 presses him on his refusal to answer questions, Duncan insists: “I’ve directed you back to your workplace.”
“We’re concerned about our colleagues!” an employee says off camera.
Another clip shows Duncan standing outside his office, asking the angry employees to “move forward” toward the other side of the floor before entering his office and closing the door.
“We’d like you to answer questions,” Avalle says. “We’d love to move forward.”
Condé Nast suggested there’s more to the story than the clips show.
“The video footage shared by the union captures only a portion of the incident,” a company spokesperson told The Post.
“Several additional minutes are missing from their version.”
Condé Nast previously characterized the union members’ conduct as “aggressive, disruptive, and threatening behavior,” saying it would not be tolerated.
The media conglomerate said Thursday it must “provide a workplace where every employee feels respected and able to do their job without harassment or intimidation.”
The company added that the firings followed behavior that “crossed the line into targeted harassment and disruption of business operations.”
Union leaders said the video disproves Condé’s justification for the firings.
NewsGuild of New York president Susan DeCarava told the Wrap that the footage “speaks for itself,” arguing the workers were “clearly exercising their legally protected right to engage in concerted action” and that management was “inaccurately spinning the events to justify firing four of our members in an attempt to intimidate our union.”
DeCarava called Condé management’s conduct “outrageous and false,” accusing executives of trying to “bully them into silence.”
She said demanding answers from management “as a group is a common collective action workers take when necessary to hold management accountable.”
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