Bogus! When Typesetters Were Paid To Set Copy That Was Thrown Away
For over a century, newspaper typesetters had a remarkable union-protected practice: resetting advertising copy that arrived pre-composed, then immediately melting it down.
Originally published in 2019.
In 1974, New York City’s three big newspapers were at an impasse with the main printers’ union over automation. The papers wanted to move from hot-metal typesetting into the fancy new world of computerized composition. This would be mean upheaval, requiring retraining and shedding many jobs. Many union typesetters had been pounding away at a Linotype for decades. The Times first aimed for a computerized transition in 1964.
Significantly, the New York union’s moves would set the pace of change for the entire country. Some newspapers had broken unions and others managed successful transitions to early electronic typesetting. But many looked to the New York Typographical Union No. 6, known as “Big Six.” Its members were the first to ever use a Linotype; they were worried about being the last ones, with no job prospects ahead.
But the newspapers didn’t make headway, and even bargained away their right to new forms of “automation” in 1965, according to an April 16, 1974, New York Times article, as part of negotiations that came after the settlement of a 114-day-long newspaper strike in 1962–1963.
