The1962–63 New York City Newspaper Strikeran from December 8, 1962, until March 31, 1963, lasting for a total of 114 days. Besides low wages, the unions were resisting automation of the printing presses.

A preliminary action took place when The Newspaper Guild went on strike against theDaily Newsjust after midnight on November 1, 1962. Guild vice president Thomas J. Murphy indicated that theDaily Newshad 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”.^[1]TheDaily Newswas able to keep printing on November 2, 1962, by using the presses of theNew York Journal-American.^[2]Workers at theDaily Newssettled their issues, accepting raises of $8 per week in talks mediated by United States Secretary of Labor W. Willard Wirtz, 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.^[3]

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.^[4]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.^[5]Representatives of the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service, including Frank H. Brown and Stephen Schlossberg, attempted to help both sides reach agreement on December 6, with “the public interest” cited as justifying federal intervention.^[6]

The strike began at 2:00 AM on December 8, when workers from the New York Typographical Union, led by their president Bert Powers, walked out from theDaily News,New York Journal American,The New York Times, andNew York World-Telegram & Sun. In addition, theNew York Daily Mirror,New York Herald Tribune,New York Postand both theLong Island Star JournalandLong Island Daily Pressall 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.^[7]

A number of publications were created or benefited from the strike.The New York Review of Bookswas created during the strike, issuing its first copies on February 21, 1963, with circulation reaching 75,000 during the strike, before retreating to between 50,000 and 60,000 following the strike. TheBrooklyn Eaglesaw circulation grow from 50,000 to 390,000 before shrinking to 154,000 before it was hit with a deliverers’ strike on June 27, 1963.^[8]

WABC-FM adopted a prototypical all-news radio format during the 114-day strike, preceding WINS as the first station with an all-news format in New York City.^[9]

Leonard Andrews, employed by a credit card company, the Uni-Serv Corporation, approached the company’s customers about advertising in a publication he created calledThe 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.^[10]

Four papers had originally been the target of the strike, but five other papers suspended printing on a voluntary basis. TheNew York Postwithdrew from the Publishers Association, resuming printing on March 4, 1963.^[8]

Mayor of New York City Robert F. Wagner, Jr., together with labor negotiator Theodore W. Kheel, 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.^[8]

An analysis performed byThe New York Timesshowed 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.^[8]

After the strike was ended, both theTimesandHerald Tribunedoubled 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 in November 1963 helped bring readers back to newspapers.^[8]

TheNew York Daily Mirror, owned by the Hearst Corporation, shut down on October 15, 1963, and sold its name and goodwill to theDaily News. TheMirror’smanagement blamed the closure on the effects of the strike aggravating existing problems at the paper.^[8]

Cuemagazine (now part ofNew Yorkmagazine) saw weekly circulation rise by 35,000 a year after the strike started andTV Guidehad seen a jump of 350,000.Timesaw New York City circulation rise by 10%.^[8]