New Yorker union reaches deal with Condé Nast

The union representing workers at The New Yorker, Pitchfork and Ars Technica reached a deal with media company Condé Nast on Wednesday, avoiding a potential strike that employees approved in March.

According to the union, the deal means significant raises for some of The New Yorker’s represented workers, a group that includes editors, fact-checkers and production workers but not The New Yorker’s staff reporters or writers.

As part of the deal with the NewsGuild of New York, union employees at all three publications will be guaranteed a base salary of at least $55,000 per year that will increase to $60,000 in 2023. Many workers will receive a 10 percent pay increase.

The New Yorker has employees who earn $42,000 a year, and others with more than 20 years of seniority who are paid less than $60,000, according to The New Yorker union’s website.

“After more than two and a half years of negotiations between The NewsGuild of New York and Condé Nast, the New Yorker, Pitchfork, and Ars Technica Unions are proud to announce that we have averted a strike and reached an agreement in principle on our first contracts,” the NewsGuild of New York wrote in a statement issued Wednesday.

Condé Nast had already implemented many of the standards in the agreement, according to a company spokesperson.

“We are pleased to have an agreement of terms with the New Yorker, Pitchfork, and Ars Technica Unions,” a Condé Nast spokesperson said in a statement.

“Over the last year, Condé Nast’s new executive leadership team has implemented equitable compensation and inclusive benefits standards across our workforce. These standards are now reflected in our agreement with union employees,” the spokesperson added.

In the agreement, the union said Condé Nast agreed to cap employee health care costs and maintain existing benefit levels. The company also agreed to a “just cause” termination clause and to increased benefits for employees who are laid off, the union said.

The union had increased its public actions against Condé Nast since voting to approve a potential strike earlier this year. Workers picketed outside the company’s Manhattan headquarters earlier in the spring and held a demonstration outside the New York City home of Anna Wintour, global chief content officer at Condé Nast, even though she does not directly oversee The New Yorker.

Condé Nast is still in negotiations with the union representing workers at Wired. The company recognized the union last year.

The media industry has faced a wave of unionization efforts this year.

In April, New York Times tech workers announced they had formed a union hoping to represent software engineers, product managers and data analysts, also through the NewsGuild of New York, which already represents editorial and business staff at the newspaper.

Last week, the NewsGuild said employees at the Southern California News Group were forming a union. The group, which is owned by hedge fund Alden Global Capital, runs the Los Angeles Daily News, The Orange County Register and several other newspapers in Southern California.