Subseries: Stoklosa, Walter R.

INTRODUCTION

EARLY BIOGRAPHICAL INFORMATION
Scope and Content Note: Born in 1917 in Chicago to Polish immigrants. Stoklosa's father owned and operated a meat market and later was a federal butter inspector. His mother for awhile was a waitress in a downtown Chicago restaurant and then was a housewife. Parents met in America. They decided to “go into the food business because that is one business you can always succeed in.” They remained in business 36 years.

HE BEGAN WORKING IN HIS PARENTS' STORE AT AGE 6 OR 7
Scope and Content Note: His tasks included stocking shelves, mopping floors, carrying boxes, slicing cold meats, and picking chickens. “It seems as though I served my biggest share of my apprenticeship with my own dad and mother in the business.” Located in a Polish neighborhood at Fullerton Avenue and Central, the store “was a typical grocery and meat market.”

THE STORE WAS A FAMILY ENTERPRISE
Scope and Content Note: His father taught him about the business, hoping he would eventually take it over. He was taught “buying, cutting, figuring out the retail price.” “It was a tedious affair.” During the Depression, the whole family worked together in the store, including his younger brother. The store was opened in 1923; his father sold it when he retired 36 years later. He often accompanied his father in a pickup truck to the wholesale market area on Randolph Street. They went to the market three times a week; Thursdays or Fridays they bought live chickens for their weekend chicken soup. They had to be careful in cold weather because goods sometimes became frostbitten. His father was adept at figuring retail prices. The store opened at 6:30 a.m. so people could buy cold cuts for lunch sandwiches. Parents sometimes worked until 11 p.m.

STOKLOSA CLEANED CHICKENS FOR SALE
Scope and Content Note: At age 8, he “tore the hide off” a chicken by over-scalding it. The water had to be about 130 degrees to make feathers fall off easily. “There was always chicken on our table every weekend.” Chickens were killed outside in back, then sent to him in the basement where he scalded and de-feathered them for waiting customers upstairs. Some stores developed reputations for quality chickens and other products. As a boy, he delivered orders with his coaster wagon.

HE BEGAN CUTTING MEAT AT AGE 12 OR 13
Scope and Content Note: He attended high school for a short time and then decided to work full-time at the store to help his parents.

TYPICAL WORK DAY
Scope and Content Note: Began at 7 a.m., then delivered some orders, perhaps went to the market, and stocked shelves. He received a dollar in wages each Sunday. He and friends might walk perhaps nine miles just to see a Cubs game--they were worth seeing in those days (“they always are as far as I'm concerned”).

HE MARRIED AND HAD A FAMILY
Scope and Content Note: He married his wife, Jen, in 1947. She has been a housewife for all but perhaps a year and a half of their marriage. They have two children. His children might have gone into the grocery business, perhaps, if they had stayed in Chicago. But they have rewarding jobs.

HIS CHILDHOOD ASPIRATION WAS TO BECOME A PLAINCLOTHES DETECTIVE

END OF TAPE 1, SIDE 1

INTRODUCTION

HE WORKED AT GOLDBLATT BROTHERS AS A MEAT CUTTER
Scope and Content Note: He began working there at age 15. The store's basement was a giant food store. He cleaned up, brought meat from the cooler to the service case, and, after six months, began to wait on customers at the service meat counter. Journeymen and the head meat cutter checked his accuracy in weighing and pricing meat, but it was some time before he was allowed to cut meat, perhaps as long as a year and a half. He was useful to journeymen, helping to cut now and then and also giving them extra time off on breaks. He also cleaned up. There were 15 journeymen and 2 apprentices in the meat department. He enjoyed waiting on customers and has been commended for his customer relations over the years. “This was my livelihood.” At Goldblatt's, his top wages were 55 cents an hour for a 54- to 56-hour work week. The store was not unionized. This was in 1932. He stayed there for three years.

A FRIEND SUGGESTED THAT HE WORK FOR NATIONAL TEA--A NEW COMPANY WITH MUCH PROMISE
Scope and Content Note: The store was at Lawrence Avenue and Milwaukee. He was often shifted from store to store. This store was unionized. “The wages almost doubled,” from 55 cents an hour to $1.35 an hour. Overtime was paid at straight-time rates. The store was open from 9 a.m. until 6 p.m., and until 9 p.m. on Saturdays.

TOOLS AND WORKING CONDITIONS AT NATIONAL
Scope and Content Note: Meat was cut by hand; it was “rare” to find a power saw in stores in those days. Grinders were used. Back doors were left open in winter to help refrigerate the meat. In summer, roasts were cut almost one at a time so that the meat would not become “flabby” from the heat. Chicago sanitation officials eventually required refrigerated back rooms. Meat cutters also waited on trade.

ALL NATIONAL STORES LOOKED ALIKE AND WERE OPERATED ALIKE
Scope and Content Note: Company officials often visited stores to check on company standards.

BEEF WAS BROUGHT INTO THE STORES IN QUARTERS
Scope and Content Note: In a packinghouse, beef is first killed, then skinned, “gutted,” cleaned, and, later, split. “You start up at the top end, and you split the whole carcass of beef.” A carcass loses up to 300 pounds after being slaughtered. The nine-foot carcass must be split into quarters of 150 to 200 pounds each to make handling easier. Meat cutters used hand saws and straight and curved boning knives. He liked a medium-sharp knife to guard against serious cuts to his hands. Power saws were introduced into stores just before World War II to help cut costs. Cubed steak machines were dangerous if not operated properly.

END OF TAPE 1, SIDE 2

INTRODUCTION

DURING WORLD WAR II, HE TAUGHT MEAT CUTTING AT A U.S. NAVY SCHOOL IN NEW LONDON, CONNECTICUT

AFTER THE WAR, HE AND HIS BROTHER HELPED THEIR PARENTS BUT COULD NOT CONVINCE THEM TO RETIRE

POST-WAR WORK HISTORY SUMMARY
Scope and Content Note: He married and moved to Janesville to work at a National Tea store. He worked there two years, then switched to Kroger for a few years, and then to Lyle Graves' IGA store, then back to Kroger for some 20 years as a head meat cutter. When Kroger closed its Wisconsin stores in 1971, he remained with Piggly Wiggly, which had purchased Kroger stores. The wages were very high. “This is what's causing our serious problem of inflation in this country when an employer has to be obligated to pay those kind of wages.”

MEAT CUTTERS OFTEN DO NOT LIKE TO WORK ON WEEKENDS, BUT THEY HAVE NO CHOICE

HE MADE GOOD WAGES AND HAD EXCELLENT FRINGE BENEFITS

HE DECIDED TO RETIRE

SUMMARY OF HIS UNION ACTIVITIES AND ATTITUDE ON EMPLOYERS' ABILITIES TO PAY UNION WAGE DEMANDS
Scope and Content Note: “I became very affiliated with the unions. I was very strict on agreements that the employer made. I never asked for too much because there is a limit to what the employer can pay out. I was always out to build up a big local membership.... I was president of this local (Amalgamated Meat Cutters and Butcher Workmen Local 358) for about eight years. I made a lot of friends with the International. I made a lot of friends with all the employers. I was never coerced by any employer to make any secret agreements, because that way you kind of gain yourself a bad reputation.” He tried to tell members what were realistic wage demands. “And you can see with the coming times that the concessions are going to have to be made on every avenue of employment because it's very apparent that the peak has been reached, and the employer will not agree to make any other agreements as far as higher wages and higher benefits.”

MORE ON THE NATIONAL STORE IN JANESVILLE
Scope and Content Note: He moved to Janesville in 1946. The store had a service counter but also pre-packaged cold meat like Oscar Mayer and Stop-n-Box.

THE CHANGEOVER TO SELF-SERVICE MEAT DEPARTMENTS WAS COSTLY BUT OVER TIME, PAID OFF
Scope and Content Note: New machinery and production-line-like processes added more cost over the years. “Girls” were added to display meat. The Kroger store was the first store he worked in to have self-service counters.

HE RECALLS ONE WOMAN MEAT CUTTER
Scope and Content Note: She could cut meat well but could not unload quarters of beef or run the power saw. She worked at Kroger and was a union member. She took an early retirement at age 55 or so. Women generally did not become meat cutters because of the weight and the cold.

THE CHANGE FROM SERVICE TO SELF-SERVICE
Scope and Content Note: He attended a seminar in Madison conducted by Kroger to introduce employees to a new system and to new packaging requirements. The company believed self-service counters would help increase production. The company had to dispose of wood carving tables from cutting rooms because wood builds up bacteria.

END OF TAPE 2, SIDE 1

INTRODUCTION

MORE ON THE KROGER SELF-SERVICE MEAT COUNTER TRAINING SEMINAR
Scope and Content Note: It lasted a week to 10 days.

THE STORE CHANGED FROM SERVICE TO SELF-SERVICE OVER ONE WEEKEND
Scope and Content Note: “You took pride and joy into your work. It was a lot different than displaying it in open platters. Each one of the steaks had to go into its individual tray, and new machines had to be brought in.” Products were coded for shelf life. Leaving meat in cases to become dark meant that it could not be readily reground with fresh meat because it would cause the red, fresher meat to discolor more quickly.

TYPICAL WORK DAY IN THE MEAT DEPARTMENT IN THOSE YEARS
Scope and Content Note: One meat cutter came in to begin grinding hamburger at 7 a.m. so that meat was available when the store opened at 8:15. By 10 a.m., cases had a great variety of meat in them. Store managers would inspect cases throughout the day. They wanted cases to be 75% full by noon. More meat was cut over the lunch hour. By 2 p.m., the case was full. For the rest of the afternoon, roasts and other cuts were prepared for the next day. Also cut poultry and cold cuts and put frozen food out.

FROZEN FOODS ALSO WERE INTRODUCED DURING THE 1950s

MEN ARE REPLACING WOMEN AS MEAT WRAPPERS
Scope and Content Note: Companies began to replace women with men while he was working for Kroger. They do this because men can lift heavy weights and because some will be regarded as meat cutting apprentices.

IT WAS A “HEADACHE” FOR HIM TO TRAIN NEW MEAT WRAPPERS
Scope and Content Note: Part of the problem was making sure the wrappers knew the different cuts of meat, and that price slugs were correctly placed in the pricing machine. Also had to make sure prices were current.

SELF-SERVICE MARKETS CREATED MORE JOBS
Scope and Content Note: Companies invested heavily and developed strict personnel policies to ensure that customers readily accepted new self-service counters. They also added more personnel to help get departments launched smoothly.

HOW THE NEW OPERATIONS AFFECTED HIM
Scope and Content Note: “It was kind of a nerve-wracking thing for quite a length of time.” He had to learn that a small variety of packages were put on display early in the week, and that a much greater variety should be displayed later in the week. It was also necessary to gain the public's confidence that the quality of meat would be the same. Kroger advertised a policy of putting the “sunny side down”--meaning that the best side of the cut of meat would be the side that the customer could not see, instead of vice versa.

COMPANIES TRIED TO GET EMPLOYEES TO INCREASE PRODUCTIVITY
Scope and Content Note: Productivity was measured according to dollars of sales per man hour of work. It began at $20 of sales per hour, then eventually up to $60. Hours were cut back if productivity standards were not met. The company never considered adding employees to help handle added business but always reduced meat department help if sales declined. This sometimes meant that a male journeyman or apprentice would have to wrap meat when wrappers' hours were reduced. Wrapping “was considered women's work.”

WOMEN SOMETIMES CUT MEAT IN VIOLATION OF CONTRACTS
Scope and Content Note: In meat departments with just one meat cutter and one meat wrapper, women occasionally helped tray during busy times and even trimmed meat.

STOKLOSA'S MEAT DEPARTMENT HAD SEVEN EMPLOYEES
Scope and Content Note: It included two women, four journeymen and one apprentice.

END OF TAPE 2, SIDE 2

INTRODUCTION

HE WAS LOCAL UNION PRESIDENT AND ALSO MEAT DEPARTMENT MANAGER WHEN THE COMPANY BEGAN TO SEEK GREATER PRODUCTIVITY
Scope and Content Note: The dual role provided no conflicts for him. “I always took my work as being number one.” “When I was working, I always made it very specific with the employer that my job was the first thing that was on the line.” So demands for increased productivity were readily met.

COMPANIES OFTEN INSPECTED MEAT DEPARTMENTS
Scope and Content Note: “They looked for variety, they looked for rotation of product, they looked for outdatedness, they looked for cleanliness, they looked for scheduling of the help in the proper manner, that everybody was neat-appearing,” and so on. They were also concerned that departments not run out of advertised specials.

COMPANIES ISSUED WEEKLY PRODUCTIVITY FIGURES BASED ON “PRODUCTION PER MAN HOUR”
Scope and Content Note: His department was usually in the top 5 out of 40 stores in his division.

HOW HE TRIED TO INCREASE PRODUCTIVITY IN HIS DEPARTMENT
Scope and Content Note: “By trying to do the biggest share of the work myself.”

MORE ON COMPANY INSPECTIONS
Scope and Content Note: Company inspectors completed forms noting the time of day they visited stores and the condition of the meat cases. Refrigeration breakdowns sometimes meant that cases were empty when supervisors visited the store. Employees might be reprimanded for drinking on the job.

PERSONNEL PROBLEMS WERE DISCUSSED AT AN EMPLOYER-EMPLOYEE CONFERENCE
Scope and Content Note: A union representative might also be present. Some employees with persistent problems might be transferred or fired.

EMPLOYEE GRIEVANCES
Scope and Content Note: Some filed complaints that other employees were working off the clock. Others complained about the heavy workload and the handling of meat by non-union members. The union has become “lax” in enforcing the latter provision. Violations of this kind often occur on Sundays when regular meat department employees are not on duty. Grievances about such violations occasionally result in overtime pay for meat department personnel.

COMPANY COMPLAINTS AGAINST EMPLOYEES
Scope and Content Note: The company occasionally complained that employees refused to work during evenings or at other times, were frequently tardy, absent or drunk, or stole from the store. “I would say that the grievances are a little greater on the part of the company towards the union today.” Companies believe they should get strict enforcement of contract provisions because they are paying good wages and benefits.

COMPANIES USE TIME STUDIES TO HELP REDUCE COSTS
Scope and Content Note: Management may use such studies to classify positions by job duty rather than by union classification (journeyman, apprentice, head meat cutter).

STOKLOSA FILED A GRIEVANCE JUST ONCE, WHEN THE COMPANY TOLD HIM TO SWITCH TO A STORE 25 MILES AWAY FROM HIS HOME
Scope and Content Note: A union representative interceded on his behalf, and he won the grievance quietly and quickly.

END OF TAPE 3, SIDE 1

INTRODUCTION

STOKLOSA PARTICIPATED IN GRIEVANCE HEARINGS AS A UNION OFFICER OR AS A MEAT DEPARTMENT MANAGER
Scope and Content Note: “These companies have to be very particular about these different things because of their great investment.” One person's misdeeds could cause the store to close if customer relations are badly damaged. His philosophy was: “I don't get paid by the customer. I get paid by the hour.”

COMPANIES' STRICT PERSONNEL REGULATIONS ON CUSTOMER RELATIONS AND DRESS STANDARDS STEM FROM THE NEED TO PROTECT THEIR HEAVY INVESTMENTS
Scope and Content Note: “The companies have too much invested to tolerate continuous infractions.” The company he most recently worked for required that men wear white shirts and black ties. Companies differ on dress codes. Company policies are printed in personnel manuals.

THE GRIEVANCE PROCEDURE HAS WORKED WELL FOR EMPLOYEES AND MANAGEMENT
Scope and Content Note: The union sometimes dissuades members from pressing grievances, but other times backs complaints fully. The union also intercedes to correct a personnel problem which, if left unattended, might result in the employee's dismissal. Smoking on the job was prohibited.

STORES HAVE BECOME VERY CONCERNED ABOUT THE NEED FOR CLEANLINESS
Scope and Content Note: Bad publicity about the lack of cleanliness has led stores to bring in new cleaning procedures, including steaming hoses and bacteria-killing foam. Companies are strict about adhering to sanitation standards; “they want to stay in business. And if anybody violates these things over and over again, zippo--you're out the front door. And the union can only protect you just so far.”

UNION MEMBERSHIP IN JANESVILLE WHEN HE ARRIVED IN 1946
Scope and Content Note: Local 358 had about 275 members. Stores were still small. Wages and benefits were not yet good. Time and a half pay for overtime was not added to contract provisions until the late 1950s. Companies now want to take back time and a half and double time for Sunday work. Company negotiators were very unyielding. He worked perhaps 53 hours a week and earned $60--all at straight-time wages. Kroger had profit-sharing just after the war.

BREAKDOWN IN NEGOTIATIONS WITH COMPANIES LED TO A GENERAL MEAT CUTTERS STRIKE IN THE LATE 1950s
Scope and Content Note: The strike included Local 358 in the Janesville-Beloit area, and locals in Madison and the Fox River Valley.

HIS PHILOSOPHY ON BARGAINING AND THE INTERNATIONAL'S ROLE
Scope and Content Note: He believed all employees should be represented on the bargaining team. “If you put a woman in on the bargaining unit, she was there to represent the women.” He also insisted that there be an employee representative from each company. The secretary-treasurer did the negotiating, but as many as 10 or 12 would participate in negotiations. Retroactive pay “usually was the first thing on the agenda.” International Representative (and Vice President) Ray Wentz did not want such broad participation in contract negotiations. “To be very frank with you, I don't think that the International was instrumental in getting all these things for us because nobody got these things for us but ourselves.... They kind of tried to force you into accepting a contract at times.” The International and the local had to approve the contract. When he was a member of the bargaining team, he wanted to make sure it was as good a contract as they could get, and that members understood all aspects of it so that he would never be accused of selling out the union.

END OF TAPE 3, SIDE 2

INTRODUCTION

MORE ON THE BARGAINING PROCESS
Scope and Content Note: The International would make sure that the wording of the contract was correct. Versions of contracts were approved, over many weeks, by union members and employers. Companies had “public relations” experts who negotiated contracts. Now, attorneys handle negotiations. “These guys are experts. They don't come any finer.”

CONTRACTS BECAME FAIRLY UNIFORM IN THE 1950s

RETAIL CLERKS INTERNATIONAL ASSOCIATION (RCIA) STRIKE IN 1965
Scope and Content Note: Meat cutters “had to cross the picket line because the company could have taken us to court” to enforce its contract with meat cutters. The strike lasted two weeks; Kroger closed its stores for two days. When the strike ended, “the company retaliated” by cutting hours “as punishment.”

BIGGEST CONTRACT GAINS OVER THE YEARS
Scope and Content Note: Time and a half after 40 hours of work, and double time for Sunday work. The health and welfare program “is a tremendous thing.” So are the dental and eye care provisions.

WORKING OFF THE CLOCK IS THE MOST IMPORTANT PART OF THE CONTRACT TO ENFORCE STRICTLY
Scope and Content Note: Enforcing this provision requires peer pressure, and many union members are reluctant to inform on fellow workers.

STORES OCCASIONALLY FORCE EMPLOYEES TO VIOLATE AGREEMENTS
Scope and Content Note: A store manager may ask a meat cutter to come in for just 20 minutes before the store opens on Sunday morning to put out meat left over from Saturday night--”a tremendous infraction.” The store manager might also ask a meat cutter to show how a canned ham should be sliced if a customer so requests it.

COMPANIES HAVE PROBLEMS WITH PILFERAGE AND DRINKING
Scope and Content Note: Companies have become very strict because of the great costs involved. “There was room for tolerance years ago.”

UNAUTHORIZED BREAKS AND ABSENTEEISM ARE ALSO COMPANY CONCERNS
Scope and Content Note: Companies are now beginning to require written excuses from doctors for illnesses.

POLYGRAPH TESTS ARE USED, BUT THE UNION DISCOURAGES EMPLOYEES FROM TAKING THEM

STOKLOSA'S MEAT DEPARTMENT EMPLOYEES DID NOT VIEW HIM AS PART OF MANAGEMENT
Scope and Content Note: “I had the reputation for picking up the loose chips.” “I never collaborated with the employer to any extent, only to the extent of getting the job done.” Indeed, the better the work he helped other meat cutters produce, the less problem they all had with company supervisors.

END OF TAPE 4, SIDE 1

INTRODUCTION

HIS WORK WAS SATISFYING
Scope and Content Note: It has provided steady and good employment. There were pressures associated with the job which sometimes were brought home at night.

HIS VIEW OF HIMSELF AS A MEAT CUTTER
Scope and Content Note: “I would consider myself very good, because I think I came up the hard way.” He also was “open to new ideas” and “never disagreed” with new meat merchandising plans devised by company “experts.”

KROGER HAD A CENTRAL MEAT-PROCESSING PLANT IN MADISON
Scope and Content Note: He attended a meat merchandising seminar in Madison during the 1960s which introduced him to new cuts of meat and new ways of shipping ground chuck and ground round into the stores (in tubes). This meat was prepared at the plant in Madison. “I knew it was going to cost people jobs, but there was nothing I could do about it.” High transportation costs forced the company to close the plant.

IT WAS IMPORTANT TO FOLLOW COMPANY MERCHANDISING PLANS
Scope and Content Note: “I was always agreeable. These fellas are getting paid a lot more than you are.” There are great varieties of food available in all grocery store departments which store employees have to be aware of.

HE IS GRATIFIED THAT HE DID HIS JOB WELL
Scope and Content Note: On his last day at work, company officials came to the store to let him know he had done a good job. “I never was called, in all these years, on the carpet.” He came to work even during the worst weather.

LOCAL 358 MERGED WITH LOCAL 502 TO GAIN STRENGTH
Scope and Content Note: The union needs more strength because companies are competing vigorously for business. “Greed is going to be a big part of this food business.”

THE COSTS OF OPERATING FOOD STORES ARE INCREASING GREATLY

FOOD STORE UNIONS MAY HAVE TO MAKE CONCESSIONS TO MANAGEMENT TO KEEP STORES OPEN

FOOD STORE PRICES ARE HIGH BECAUSE OPERATING COSTS ARE HIGH
Scope and Content Note: Benefits, wages, energy costs and stealing are costly.

ANECDOTE ABOUT A SEGMENT ON TELEVISION DEALING WITH IN-STORE THEFT
Scope and Content Note: A man took a bun, cold meat, lettuce and mustard from various store departments. The store lost about $7 in the theft.

STORE SECURITY HAS TIGHTENED TO PREVENT THEFT

A SUMMARY
Scope and Content Note: “I'm really proud of what I done for a living. I don't wake up and get up in the morning where I'm ashamed of myself walking down the street because I'm very proud of what I've done.”

END OF INTERVIEW