Anne Hathaway leaves Vanity Fair photoshoot in solidarity with Condé Nast strike

More than 400 staffers have staged a 24-hour walk-out over the company’s layoff plans

Anne Hathaway reportedly walked out of a Vanity Fair photoshoot on Tuesday (23 January) in solidarity with Condé Nast’s labour union strike.

More than 400 staffers of Condé Nast – the parent company of publications including Vanity Fair, Vogue and GQ – staged a 24-hour walkout to protest the “unlawful handling of layoff negotiations and bad-faith bargaining”, according to CNN Business.

The 41-year-old actor was apparently not aware of the work stoppage when she initially arrived at the photoshoot in New York, Variety reports.

However, once Hathaway’s team was notified by a staffer and advised to support the strike, she left.

“They hadn’t even started taking photos yet,” a source told Variety. “Once Anne was made aware of what was going on, she just got up from hair and makeup and left.”

The labour stoppage, which began at 8.30am on Tuesday, coincided with the announcement of the 96th Oscars nominees, which saw Oppenheimer, Barbie and Poor Things leading the tally.

Hundreds of union workers are currently on the picket line outside of Condé Nast’s New York City headquarters.

“Bosses wear prada, workers get nada,” staffers can be heard chanting in a video posted to X.

In another video, some can be heard chanting: “Say it loud, say it clear, winter’s extra cold this year,” a reference to longtime Vogue editor-in-chief Anna Wintour.

The strike follows Condé Nast’s announcement to employees on 1 November that it would be cutting five per cent of its workforce. It later revised the plan, saying that it would be making 94 unionised members redundant. After several back and forths with the Condé Nast union’s bargaining team, the company proposed its final offer, which maintained 94 cuts and almost half the proposed severance, the union said (via CNN Business).

“The last nearly three months of fighting for our co-workers on the company’s layoff list has led us to today,” Ben Dewey, vice chair of the CNE unit of Condé Nast Union, said in a statement.

“Our 24-hour walkout is about standing firmly behind our colleagues and showing Condé Nast management in the clearest possible way that we will not tolerate their disrespect at the bargaining table over these layoffs. It is time to start bargaining in good faith with us.”