Star in support of union walkout
NEW YORK: Anne Hathaway has walked off the set of a magazine photoshoot while getting her hair and makeup done.
The Oscar-winning actor, 41, was set to pose for a Vanity Fair spread at the magazine’s headquarters in New York on Tuesday (local time) when she was informed of the imminent Conde Nast Union walkout.
About 400 members employed with Conde Nast brands, which include Vanity Fair, Vogue and GQ, signalled a 24hour stop-work after the publishing company began laying off 5 per cent of staff.
When a SAG-AFTRA staffer told Hathaway of the stoppage, in which hundreds of staff rallied outside the One World Trade Centre offices Tuesday, the Princess Diaries star abandoned her scheduled shoot and walked out with staff, Variety reported.
“Once Anne was made aware of what was going on, she just got up from hair and makeup and left,” a source said.
Hathaway has been praised for her support of workers on social media, with fans comparing her stance to that of her character in film The Devil Wears Prada, in which she plays journalist Andie, who bails on a dream, yet all-consuming, magazine job.
The walkout coincided with the unveiling of the 96th annual Academy Awards nominations, a key news story for most media sites.
The NewsGuild of New York – the union representing the workers – said staff was campaigning against the company’s “unlawful bargaining tactics during lay-off negotiations”.
Lay-offs at the company were first announced by Conde Nast chief executive Roger Lynch in November.
NewsGuild filed an unfair labour practice charge, claiming the company had violated labour laws by significantly reducing employees’ lay-off benefits.
Changes officially began last week when staff at digital music website Pitchfork were let go, with Conde Nast closing the publication and folding it into its men’s magazine GQ.