The New Yorker’s Labor Dispute Reaches Anna Wintour’s Doorstep -

Reprinted from The Washington Post by Jada YuanandElahe Izadi on June 9, 2021.

The signs read “You can’t eat prestige” in the instantly recognizable font of The New Yorker. Of course a protest over workplace conditions at one of the most exalted magazines in the world would have good graphic design.

Remnants of a massive thunderstorm drizzled down Tuesday night as about 100 members and supporters of unions at Condé Nast magazines, including The New Yorker, picketed the Greenwich Village townhouse of the media empire’s most well-known executive: Anna Wintour. Because New York’s sidewalks are narrow, they marched in an elongated oval formation for about 10 minutes — just long enough for cameras to capture chants like, “Bosses wear Prada, workers get nada!” (Again, when your union is made up of fact-checkers, Web producers and copy editors, you can write some pretty catchy chants.)

Although The New Yorker occupies a rarefied position in American culture, members of its recently formed union — which does not include staff writers — say the magazine’s reputation is incongruous with the way it compensates vital workers. In one of the most expensive cities in the world, it pays a base salary of $42,000. …

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