1962 New York City newspaper strike
Encyclopedia
The 1962-63 New York City Newspaper Strike ran from December 8, 1962 until March 31, 1963, lasting for a total of 114 days.

Preliminary actions

A preliminary action took place when The Newspaper Guild went on strike against the Daily News just after midnight on November 1, 1962. Guild vice president Thomas J. Murphy indicated that the Daily News had been singled out as the union's first target "because there we have had more aggravation, more agitation, more issues, more disputes and more anti-unionism from management." The Daily News was able to keep printing on November 2, 1962 by using the presses of the New York Journal American
New York Journal American
The New York Journal American was a newspaper published from 1937 to 1966. The Journal American was the product of a merger between two New York newspapers owned by William Randolph Hearst: The New York American , a morning paper, and the New York Evening Journal, an afternoon paper...

. Workers at the Daily News settled their issues, accepting raises of $8 per week in talks mediated by United States Secretary of Labor
United States Secretary of Labor
The United States Secretary of Labor is the head of the Department of Labor who exercises control over the department and enforces and suggests laws involving unions, the workplace, and all other issues involving any form of business-person controversies....

 W. Willard Wirtz
W. Willard Wirtz
William Willard Wirtz was a former U.S. administrator, cabinet officer, attorney, and law professor. He served as the Secretary of Labor between 1962 and 1969 under the administrations of Presidents John F. Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson. At the time of his death, he was the last living member of...

, with employees receiving an added $4.25 per week in the first year, with an additional $3.75 weekly in the subsequent year, allowing the paper to start with a print run of 1.5 million copies, short of its nation-leading normal circulation of 2,075,000 copies.

On December 4, 1962, negotiators representing the nine major newspapers offered a deal that combined an $8 increase in wages and benefits spread over two years, combined with changes in work procedures that would cut costs for the papers. Union negotiators rejected the offer from the newspapers the following day, setting their requirement of a $16 weekly raise over two years, and set a deadline of midnight on December 8 if an agreement could not be reached before then. Representatives of the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service attempted to help both sides reach agreement on December 6, with "the public interest" cited as justifying federal intervention.

The strike began at 2:00 AM on December 8, when workers from the New York Typographical Union, led by their president Bert Powers
Bert Powers
Bertram Anthony "Bert" Powers was an American labor leader who was best known for leading his union, the New York Typographical Union No. 6 into a 114 day strike against four New York City newspapers in 1962-1963...

, walked out from the Daily News, New York Journal American
New York Journal American
The New York Journal American was a newspaper published from 1937 to 1966. The Journal American was the product of a merger between two New York newspapers owned by William Randolph Hearst: The New York American , a morning paper, and the New York Evening Journal, an afternoon paper...

, The New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...

, and New York World-Telegram & Sun
New York World-Telegram
The New York World-Telegram, later known as the New York World-Telegram and Sun, was a New York City newspaper from 1931 to 1966.-History:...

. In addition, the New York Daily Mirror
New York Daily Mirror
The New York Daily Mirror was an American morning tabloid newspaper first published on June 24, 1924, in New York City by the William Randolph Hearst organization as a contrast to their mainstream broadsheets, the Evening Journal and New York American, later consolidated into the New York Journal...

, New York Herald Tribune
New York Herald Tribune
The New York Herald Tribune was a daily newspaper created in 1924 when the New York Tribune acquired the New York Herald.Other predecessors, which had earlier merged into the New York Tribune, included the original The New Yorker newsweekly , and the Whig Party's Log Cabin.The paper was home to...

, New York Post
New York Post
The New York Post is the 13th-oldest newspaper published in the United States and is generally acknowledged as the oldest to have been published continuously as a daily, although – as is the case with most other papers – its publication has been periodically interrupted by labor actions...

and both the Long Island Star Journal and Long Island Daily Press all suspended operations on a voluntary basis. The newspapers kept their offer of an $8 increase per week spread over two years, while the unions were looking for a $38.82 increase in the two-year period.

Alternative media

A number of publications were created or benefited from the strike. The New York Review of Books
The New York Review of Books
The New York Review of Books is a fortnightly magazine with articles on literature, culture and current affairs. Published in New York City, it takes as its point of departure that the discussion of important books is itself an indispensable literary activity...

was created during the strike, issuing its first copies on February 21, 1963, with circulation reaching 75,000 during the strike, before retreating to between 50 and 60 thousand after the strike was settled. The Brooklyn Eagle
Brooklyn Eagle
The Brooklyn Daily Bulletin began publishing when the original Eagle folded in 1955. In 1996 it merged with a newly revived Brooklyn Daily Eagle, and now publishes a morning paper five days a week under the Brooklyn Daily Eagle name...

saw circulation grow from 50 thousand to 390 thousand before shrinking back to 154 thousand before it was hit with a deliverers' strike on June 27, 1963.

WABC-FM
WPLJ
WPLJ is a radio station in New York City owned by the broadcasting division of Cumulus Media. WPLJ shares studio facilities with sister station WABC inside 2 Penn Plaza in midtown Manhattan, and its transmitter is atop the Empire State Building. The station currently plays a Hot Adult...

 adopted a prototypical all-news radio
All-news radio
All-news radio is a radio format devoted entirely to discussion and broadcast of news.All-news radio is available in both local and syndicated forms, and is carried in some form on both major US satellite radio networks...

 format during the 114-day strike, preceding WINS
WINS (AM)
WINS , known on-air as "Ten-Ten Wins", is a radio station in New York City, owned by CBS Radio. WINS's studios are in the combined CBS Radio facility at 345 Hudson Street in the TriBeCa section of Manhattan, and transmitting towers in Lyndhurst, New Jersey.WINS is one of the nation's oldest...

 as the first station with an all-news format in New York City.

Leonard Andrews
Leonard Andrews
Leonard Edward Bryant Andrews was an American publisher and art collector best known for his purchase of some 240 previously unknown Andrew Wyeth works of a woman known as Helga, including several nudes....

 employed by a credit card company, the Uni-Serv Corporation, approached the company's customers about advertising in a publication he created called The New York Standard, the largest of several alternative papers published during the strike, reaching a peak circulation of more than 400,000 and appearing for 67 issues.

Ending the strike

Four papers had originally been the target of the strike, but five other papers suspended printing on a voluntary basis. The New York Post withdrew from the Publishers Association, resuming printing on March 4, 1963.

Mayor of New York City
Mayor of New York City
The Mayor of the City of New York is head of the executive branch of New York City's government. The mayor's office administers all city services, public property, police and fire protection, most public agencies, and enforces all city and state laws within New York City.The budget overseen by the...

 Robert F. Wagner, Jr.
Robert F. Wagner, Jr.
Robert Ferdinand Wagner II, usually known as Robert F. Wagner, Jr. served three terms as the mayor of New York City, from 1954 through 1965.-Biography:...

, together with labor negotiator Theodore W. Kheel
Theodore W. Kheel
Theodore Woodrow Kheel was an American attorney and labor mediator who played a key role in reaching resolutions of long-simmering labor disputes between managements and unions and resulting strikes in New York City and elsewhere in the United States, including the 114-day long 1962-63 New York...

, were able to forge an agreement to end the strike under which the newspaper workers would receive wage and benefit increases of $12.63 per week. Kheel noted that the contracts for all ten newspaper unions would expire on the same date in 1965, emphasizing the importance of addressing the festering labor issues.

Aftermath

An analysis performed by The New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...

showed that the nine affected newspapers lost a total of more than $100 million in advertising and circulation revenues and that the industry's more than 19 thousand employees lost $50 million in wages and benefits.

After the strike was ended, both the Times and Herald Tribune doubled their price to 10 cents, one of the factors that had cut readership. As of September 30, 1963, circulation of six daily New York papers was down 11.9% on weekdays and 8.3% on Sundays based on reports from the Audit Bureau of Circulations. The John F. Kennedy assassination
John F. Kennedy assassination
John Fitzgerald Kennedy, the thirty-fifth President of the United States, was assassinated at 12:30 p.m. Central Standard Time on Friday, November 22, 1963, in Dealey Plaza, Dallas, Texas...

 in November 1963 helped bring readers back to newspapers.

The New York Daily Mirror
New York Daily Mirror
The New York Daily Mirror was an American morning tabloid newspaper first published on June 24, 1924, in New York City by the William Randolph Hearst organization as a contrast to their mainstream broadsheets, the Evening Journal and New York American, later consolidated into the New York Journal...

, owned by the Hearst Corporation
Hearst Corporation
The Hearst Corporation is an American media conglomerate based in the Hearst Tower, Manhattan in New York City, New York, United States. Founded by William Randolph Hearst as an owner of newspapers, the company's holdings now include a wide variety of media...

, shut down on October 15, 1963 and sold its name and goodwill to the Daily News. The Mirror's management blamed the closure on the effects of the strike aggravating existing problems at the paper.

Cue magazine (now part of New York
New York (magazine)
New York is a weekly magazine principally concerned with the life, culture, politics, and style of New York City. Founded by Milton Glaser and Clay Felker in 1968 as a competitor to The New Yorker, it was brasher and less polite than that magazine, and established itself as a cradle of New...

magazine) saw weekly circulation rise by 35,000 a year after the strike started and TV Guide
TV Guide
TV Guide is a weekly American magazine with listings of TV shows.In addition to TV listings, the publication features television-related news, celebrity interviews, gossip and film reviews and crossword puzzles...

had seen a jump of 350,000. Time
Time (magazine)
Time is an American news magazine. A European edition is published from London. Time Europe covers the Middle East, Africa and, since 2003, Latin America. An Asian edition is based in Hong Kong...

saw New York City circulation rise by 10%.
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