Subseries: Henning, Ethel W.

INTRODUCTION

BIOGRAPHICAL BACKGROUND
Scope and Content Note: Only one of six children to graduate from high school; graduated in 1930. Henning had an office job at Century Pen Company in Whitewater her senior year in high school and held the job for five years after that. Married in 1935, had two children, and didn't return to work until after the children were five or six years old. She got a job at Carr's Food Store in Janesville in 1943 and “worked steady for the next 32 years.”

CHILDHOOD ASPIRATIONS
Scope and Content Note: Liked mathematics, spelling and typing as a child.

JOB AT CENTURY PEN COMPANY
Scope and Content Note: Took dictation, typed letters. That job was too confining, so when she moved to Janesville, she looked for work where she could meet the public.

EARLY MARRIED YEARS
Scope and Content Note: Lived on a farm near Whitewater. She stayed home to care for the household. Her husband worked for a wealthy farmer. They stayed there until “his back gave out.”

JOB AT CARR'S
Scope and Content Note: Got the job through a newspaper ad within a month after moving to Janesville. Husband worked for Buggs & Hovland Food Store as a clerk. She was well trained by the manager for job as a checker. An experienced checker worked alongside her for a month or so before Henning could work by herself. “Everything had to be just exactly the way he wanted.” Had to put money a certain way, couldn't talk while checking, and had to count change back to customers.

DESCRIPTION OF CARR'S
Scope and Content Note: Four checking lanes. A self-service supermarket with meat department, frozen foods, produce. “It was very attractive.” Checkstands in front, aisles ran straight back, produce department to one side, windows at front looked onto the street. Frozen foods on the right side as patrons came in the door; produce on the left; meat department in the back.

PERSONNEL AT CARR'S
Scope and Content Note: Twelve to fifteen employees; six full-time checkers who would stock counters and shelves when not busy checking. Part-timers came in after school. A supervisor/checker was responsible for all the registers.

THE UNION AT CARR'S
Scope and Content Note: Carr's was not unionized when she began work. “We kind of organized ourselves,” though with the help of Jennings W. (Mike) Weiss. Election won by the Retail Clerks International Association (RCIA) (Local 1139) in the summer of 1943. Before the union, she worked 48 hours a week for $16 a week. Rather than have to deal with the union, Carr's very soon thereafter sold to Kroger. Took about a year of picketing, without a strike, to get a contract after they organized a union. Never got a contract under Carr's ownership. Picketing did not help win a contract at Carr's even though Janesville was a stronger union town then than now. Employees picketed on their days off. Carr's did not like it but also did not fire anyone.

MORE ABOUT HOW CARR'S WAS OPERATED
Scope and Content Note: Family had been in business a long time, operating several stores. Managed to stay non-union. The brothers did not work much in the stores; stayed in their office. Many customers were wealthy, bought big orders, and charged their purchases. Head bookkeeper had to be efficient--and was. She could find even a penny lost on a tape. “She wasn't too interested” in joining the union, as “she was older than the rest of us were.”

HOW HENNING WOULD CHECK OUT A CUSTOMER
Scope and Content Note: Checkers had to unload carts themselves, check out the order, and do their own bagging. There was no conveyor belt system, so she often had to unload half an order, ring it up, then move around the counter to unload the rest, except when boys worked there as baggers after school. “It wasn't easy work; it was long, hard days.” “I'd like to have a penny for all the groceries I ever packed, I'll tell ya that.” Registers had “groceries,” and “meat” keys, plus letters “produce,” for each clerk. Charges had to be rung up first, then attached to the charge slip and put in the register. Each item had to be listed on the charge slip. “That used to take a lot of time.” Welfare orders especially took much time to check out. There was no particular checkout lane for welfare orders. Welfare orders caused delays and sometimes frustration, because “I was always taught by this manager: don't let the people wait. They can take their time goin' around the store, but when they get up to the checking counter, they want to get out. That was his way of telling us checkers.”

HOW CHARGES WERE WRITTEN UP AT CHECKOUT COUNTERS
Scope and Content Note: Each welfare order had an amount listed on it. Amounts purchased were listed on the order and signed by the purchaser “until it was used up.” Orders were sent to the county once a month, and the county sent checks for amounts purchased to the store. Checkers were not allowed to extend credit to welfare customers beyond the amount listed on the order. Those not on welfare who wanted to charge simply signed a charge ticket with the receipt attached. The bookkeeper would send bills at the end of each month.

STOCKING RESPONSIBILITIES
Scope and Content Note: Checkers stocked shelves when not busy at checking lanes, but so did kids working after school. Checkers often worked in produce, bagging items purchased from bulk bins. Sometimes they bagged apples, potatoes, etc. in advance of demand.

END OF TAPE 1, SIDE 1

INTRODUCTION

PRODUCE AND MEAT DEPARTMENTS AT CARR'S
Scope and Content Note: Much smaller than today. Each had a department manager who was responsible for overall department operations. The meat department was owned by Carr's; not a concession. “They had a nice meat department.”

CUSTOMER BUYING HABITS AT CARR'S
Scope and Content Note: There was no typical day, but “usually, you saw the same people week after week.... You usually figured you got so that you learned the days certain people came to the grocery store, and at that time, it wasn't on the scale that they had to run in for a loaf of bread or a pound of butter. When they came, they bought an order that would last for quite some time, like for once a week or twice a week. And you could just almost figure their orders because they bought about the same every time they came in.”

SANITATION AT CARR'S
Scope and Content Note: Not much concern about it at the time. “I will say the store was kept in very neat condition.” No inspectors came around. There were wooden floors, and the manager made sure they were cleaned “real often.”

CARR'S SOLD BOTH THEIR STORES AND THEIR WAREHOUSE TO KROGER AND LEFT THE BUSINESS BECAUSE OF THE UNION PICKET

HENNING'S UNION EXPERIENCES
Scope and Content Note: “I had no experience or anything with unions until I went into the union myself. And, of course, gradually, you learn from going to meetings and listening to your union leaders what it was all about. And I gradually worked myself into it.” Her husband was not a union member, but she had to join when she went to work for Carr's. “I could see the benefits that a union gave....”

MORE ON HENNING'S BACKGROUND
Scope and Content Note: Even though she lived at home with her farm family until age 23, she spent a lot of time away from the farm, driving to high school for four years and to Whitewater for five years while working at the Century Pen Company. She grew to dislike office work because she and her husband both liked being outside rather than working indoors, or at least working with other people.

HOW SHE MANAGED TO WORK AND RAISE TWO CHILDREN
Scope and Content Note: “We always saw to it that either I was home with the girls when he was working, or he was home with the girls when I was working. So we never left the children alone; and we never hired baby-sitters either, I'll tell you that.” When her husband entered the service, she and the girls managed the household for the 15 months he was gone. She avoided night work during that period.

WORLD WAR II OPENED NEW JOB OPPORTUNITIES IN FOOD STORES FOR WOMEN
Scope and Content Note: She estimates that at least three-fourths of the store employees were women, because so many men were in the service. There were no women store or department managers, however.

MORE ON HENNING'S UNION EXPERIENCES
Scope and Content Note: She joined the union in early 1943, was president of the Clerks Local 1139 by the end of the year, because “nobody else wanted the job.” The union had a good-sized membership but poor attendance at meetings.

MIKE WEISS, BUSINESS REPRESENTATIVE FOR CLERK AND MEAT CUTTER LOCALS
Scope and Content Note: A retired meat cutter. “But he wasn't too efficient....” He was getting older by the time he took the job as business representative for the two unions and was not well informed on the Clerks “laws and rules.”

HOW CONTRACTS WERE NEGOTIATED
Scope and Content Note: A delegate from each store attended negotiation sessions, which were boring. Meetings with chain store representatives at the Labor Temple lasted from perhaps 9 a.m. until 5 p.m., and “you wouldn't know any more when you walked out of there than when you went in at nine o'clock in the morning.” They got help negotiating from International representative Murray Plopper and Milwaukee business representative Peter Voeller. (Weiss mostly organized and collected dues but did not help with negotiations. Plopper and Voeller were also called in to help settle grievances.) Contracts were negotiated with A & P and Kroger together. They were the only chains in Janesville then.

MORE ON HENNING'S UNION WORK
Scope and Content Note: Elected president in 1943 but does not recall how long she served. Carr's bookkeeper was also active in the union. Henning was vice president at least by 1947. Offices were traded around often as people tired of them. She also was the recording secretary. She also was a steward, collected dues, told new young members the benefits of belonging to the union. She did not want to be a delegate to union conventions. When the title of “Recording Secretary” was changed to “Secretary-Treasurer,” she kept meeting minutes and the union's financial records. Pete Voeller would check her books after he became the local's business representative.

ROLE OF STEWARDS IN STORES IN THE 1950s
Scope and Content Note: Main function was to collect dues and make sure new employees joined the union. Little role in grievance procedure. Steward would turn over complaints to Mike Weiss or someone in Madison.

CHANGES IN THE STORE WHEN KROGER BOUGHT CARR'S
Scope and Content Note: The store became part of a chain. “You got different people coming into the store than you would at an independent grocery store.” Orders became smaller but more numerous. Carr's had long-established customers. “You wouldn't get strangers.” More varied people came into Kroger. Charge accounts were abolished. Chain recognition brought people in. For Henning, “you were busier.” Kroger kept the same layout and most personnel. The company brought in its own manager from Janesville. Henning helped keep the store's financial records. Would also run the Delavan Kroger store during vacation season.

COMPARISON BETWEEN UNION KROGER AND NON-UNION A & P IN JANESVILLE
Scope and Content Note: A & P paid higher wages, even though not unionized until several years after Kroger. Kroger store was the only union store in town for some years, although the Clerks Local 1139 had organized non-food stores. “A & P was smart at that time. They always kept their clerks a little bit ahead of the union scale so that they didn't want the clerks to ever get interested in the union because they were making better money than the union clerks were, and they still didn't have to pay any union dues, so that way...the older help that was at A & P never was interested in belonging to a union until...Kroger kept coming up every year with their wages....” Then A & P employees joined the union. Was not possible to demand that Kroger pay what A & P paid. “Oh, you don't know how hard it was to negotiate, I'll tell you! It was...as hard as nails to try to negotiate with Kroger's.... They had their price set, and that was it.”

KROGER CONTINUED TO OPERATE THE STORE AS CARR'S HAD DONE

HENNING LEFT KROGER TO WORK FOR LYLE GRAVES' NEW IGA STORE
Scope and Content Note: Lyle Graves, who had operated a small grocery store on Randall Avenue, opened a new IGA store on River Street. She changed because she “wasn't happy,” wanted to work in a larger store, and experience a grand opening.

END OF TAPE 1, SIDE 2

INTRODUCTION

HENNING'S RELATIONSHIP WITH HER NEW BOSS, LYLE GRAVES
Scope and Content Note: “I just wanted to get into a new store.” Store had new, “flat,” smaller registers, which she liked. Also liked the grand opening. She got to know and socialize with Graves' family. Graves tried to do right by the union and asked her how to deal with the union. She was like an assistant manager for him, although someone else had the title. Graves himself worked in the meat department with four others. She enjoyed working for him and the business itself: “I enjoyed the grocery business from the time I started until I quit, every bit of it.” She does not miss the business as much as the people.

GRAVES' ASSISTANT MANAGER RESISTED JOINING THE UNION
Scope and Content Note: Weiss forced him to join, saying otherwise he would have Graves fire him. He joined at the last minute. The store was unionized from the day it opened.

RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN GRAVES AND THE GODFREY COMPANY
Scope and Content Note: Graves bought all goods from John Godfrey. No Sentry stores then. Godfrey solely a wholesaler, supplying mostly IGA stores.

MORE ON HENNING'S WORK AT GRAVES' IGA
Scope and Content Note: Her duties were similar to a head cashier. Did payroll, ordering, sale signs and checking.. Store had just three checking lanes. When she later worked for Woodman's, did not have to both check and order, because it was too confusing. At Graves, she ordered directly from salesmen and from Godfrey. Deliveries made two or three times a week. Henning stocked the two lanes down from her register when not checking. Got no extra pay for extra duties.

GRAVES' FLOOR PLAN
Scope and Content Note: Same size as the Kroger store. Canned goods to the right after entry. Groceries in the middle. Produce in the left corner, with the bakery next to it. Meat next to the bakery. Nothing across the back. Bread next to the checking lanes in front. Few bulk items left. She did order cookies in bulk and bagged them herself.

CASH REGISTERS AT GRAVES
Scope and Content Note: Smaller, and harder to operate. “They didn't have the zip that a big register has....” Easier to make a mistake. Still had just three department keys. She did not like them because she could not go fast enough. The new computer-linked registers are too complicated and lend themselves to errors.

CHECKOUT SYSTEM AT GRAVES' IGA
Scope and Content Note: No conveyor belt. Small counters with packers. People unloaded their own carts.

MORE ON THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN WORKING FOR KROGER AND GRAVES' IGA
Scope and Content Note: “Kroger's were a tough outfit to work for.... They stuck right to base wages, and they wouldn't give you a dime more than what base pay was.” Graves paid her the same wages to start as Kroger. Gave her a chance to work an extra three hours on Friday night for time and a half. With Kroger, “you never gained anything.” Many employees left Kroger to work for Graves.

HENNING LEFT IGA SOON AFTER CHANGE OF OWNERSHIP
Scope and Content Note: Fred Rank bought the store from Graves after ten years or so. Business had declined. Rank not a good businessman. Henning tried to help him meet Graves' old customers. He fired her one Saturday night in the fall of 1958 with no reason, though he said he was not firing her, just “laying you off.” She got $37 a week unemployment compensation for six months.

END OF TAPE 2, SIDE 1

INTRODUCTION

WHY HENNING DID NOT USE SENIORITY TO SAVE HER JOB WHEN LAID OFF BY RANK
Scope and Content Note: Pete Voeller wanted her to press the issue, but she gave the job to a woman with a son who needed the job more than she did. Moreover, if she had returned to work, Rank would have found fault and tried to fire her. Employees also wanted her to fight Rank, but she said “no, you girls keep your jobs and don't worry about me.” A meat cutter told her Rank's business declined after she left, because customers boycotted the store when they learned she had been laid off. She had done the same work for Rank as for Graves.

COMPETITION FROM COPPS WAREHOUSE DISCOUNT STORE HAD FORCED GRAVES OUT OF BUSINESS
Scope and Content Note: New Copps discount store sold things in cases. Graves lost customers. Copps was not unionized for years. Copps' employees were afraid they would be fired for joining the union.

DESCRIPTION OF HENNING'S NEXT STORE, WOODMAN'S
Scope and Content Note: “It was beautiful.” Store fairly new. Graves had said Willard Woodman a little old to start such a new venture. Store manager “was all business--grocery business.” Store well cared for and planned. Office on the right as one entered the store. Three checking lanes in front, then four in the back on the side of building. Aisles ran straight back from checking lanes. Produce department on the right side; meat across the back; frozen food on another side; groceries in between. Separation of two groups of checking lanes--one in front, one in back--caused inconvenience and bunch-ups for customers. Lounge area was in front, with couches.

CHECKOUT SYSTEM AT WOODMAN'S
Scope and Content Note: National Cash Registers with conveyor belts, operated by checker's foot peddle. That was “a great big improvement.” Had to contend with bottles, coupons, refunds. The store did not have trading stamps. Carr's had used boxes and some bags for groceries; Woodman's used only bags.

DEPARTMENTS AT WOODMAN'S
Scope and Content Note: Head cashier, head checker, produce department, dairy manager, but no deli. Egg department employed a woman full-time. Employed 30 to 35 full-time and many part-time. Many in the meat department, including two women. Also, two bookkeepers, a manager, an assistant manager. “Every department had a manager.” Department managers not paid the same wages. The entire store was self-service.

THE STRIKE AT WOODMAN'S IN 1960
Scope and Content Note: Some were union members when she started work, but no union contract. LaVerne Wallace talked to Henning about the need for unionization and a union contract. The union had difficulty getting Willard Woodman to sign a contract. In 1960, the union struck Woodman's in order to send chains in Janesville a message by striking an independent store. Woodman and two sons worked in the store during the strike. Union members in Janesville would not cross the picket line. No strike fund. The decision to strike was made by Pete Voeller in Madison, thinking Woodman would give in because the strike was called just before Memorial Day. The strike lasted two weeks. Woodman agreed to union terms, although “nobody gains on a strike....” Union representatives from outside Janesville did not appreciate how difficult it was to face an independent store owner who lives in town. Membership did approve the strike, although some younger members, especially from other stores, did not understand its meaning. In fact, employees from other stores could vote to strike but would not have to strike themselves. “And that really kinda hurt.” Strike issues were wages and benefits. Did not get benefits but got a contract. Woodman's fought unionization.

ORGANIZING WOODMAN'S, AND THE UNION TODAY
Scope and Content Note: Discussed unionization on the telephone during off hours. Many employees were afraid they would lose their jobs if they joined the union. LaVerne Wallace was good at talking to such employees. Talking about benefits of the union helped in those days. But “the young kids nowadays, they don't care.” Few travel to Madison for union meetings. “They've just lost their interest here in Janesville as far as union meetings are concerned.”

MORE ON HENNING'S WORK AT WOODMAN'S
Scope and Content Note: Primarily a checker. Some stocking.

END OF TAPE 2, SIDE 2

INTRODUCTION

HENNING AS CO-WINNER OF NATIONAL CASH REGISTER'S (NCR) CHECKER-OF-THE-YEAR AWARD FOR WISCONSIN
Scope and Content Note: Customers voted in the store. Criteria: courtesy, accuracy, appearance, customer relations. Willard Woodman conducted the contest in each of his three stores. Wisconsin was not in one of ten regions feeding finalists to the national checker contest in Atlantic City, so she could not go. In Wisconsin contest, winners were determined by judges who visited stores incognito and compared her with others who had been entered from other stores around the state. She won a set of silverware. Shared award with a woman from Fort Atkinson. Judges were thorough in scrutinizing candidates. Woodman's did not participate afterwards because NCR excluded Wisconsin from the national competition. Henning did not want to go further anyway.

WOODMAN'S DID NOT USE PROFESSIONAL SHOPPERS' SERVICE TO CHECK ACCURACY OF CHECKERS

PETER VOELLER REPLACED J.W. WEISS, WHO DIED IN 1959
Scope and Content Note: Weiss had mainly serviced Janesville. After his death, the union was without a business representative until Pete Voeller. The International sent Voeller. “He really got the union people here in Janesville perked up quite a lot.” Attendance improved. When Voeller's territory expanded, he got Bill Moreth, a Sentry produce clerk, to be business representative. Moreth brought in Harold Bitter as business representative. Voeller had worked for Madison and Janesville Clerk locals. Two locals merged a couple of years after Voeller's arrival.

PETE VOELLER GOT LYLE HARBORT TO RUN FOR LOCAL PRESIDENT IN 1959
Scope and Content Note: Defeated the incumbent president. He had held several union offices prior to 1959 election.

MERGER OF MADISON AND JANESVILLE LOCALS
Scope and Content Note: “Nobody knew anything about it.” “We didn't have nothin' to do with it.... It merged, and that was just it.” Members voted on it. Became Local 1401. Henning retired from her office. Union officers thereafter came from Madison. “I wasn't that interested after they merged” in holding union office because of travel to Madison. She continued to attend meetings and to tell younger members the importance of the union.

ORGANIZING DRIVES AFTER VOELLER'S ARRIVAL ON THE SCENE
Scope and Content Note: Organizing efforts occurred mostly in Madison and further north. Janesville stores were mostly organized. Dues just $3 a month, so more members meant more funds to hire union staff, who would organize more members.

CONTRACT GAINS: HEALTH AND WELFARE AND PENSION
Scope and Content Note: Woodman's had a profit-sharing plan, which ended the day after Henning was hired. He knew the union was planning to start a pension plan. The union won pension with little effort.

CASH REGISTERS AT WOODMAN'S
Scope and Content Note: Began with upright NCR's. Later, larger registers with more buttons. Did not put in computer registers until new store opened. This was an IBM register which also monitored inventory. Scanners were installed after she retired. “Thank God I didn't have to learn that.” With registers which calculate change automatically, still have many things to keep track of. Scanners are even more complicated than machines she operated. She was responsible for checking her cash drawer in and out in all stores where she worked. She was never told if she had exceeded a short or excess limit in her cash drawer. Occasionally she was short and was informed at the end of the day. Some errors occurred when change was made between registers.

END OF TAPE 3, SIDE 1

INTRODUCTION

DRESS CODE AT WOODMAN'S
Scope and Content Note: Woodman's was the first place where Henning had to wear a uniform. Had to buy white uniforms first, then the contract said Woodman had to provide them. Employees laundered. “But that looked so much nicer when everybody's dressed alike.” Willard Woodman's son Phil changed to different colors. Now employees wear jackets with names on.

PHYSICAL PROBLEMS ASSOCIATED WITH CHECKING
Scope and Content Note: Not hard but tiring. “It's interesting work.” Can cause fallen arches. Good shoes help feet, too. Lifting causes shoulders and arms to be tired. She began to notice physical stress within the last ten years. She used to be able to work from nine to nine without it bothering her. Began to bother her “about ten years ago.”

SUNDAY OPENINGS
Scope and Content Note: Lyle Graves did not keep the store open on Milton Avenue, but new store was open Sundays. Stores started staying open in the early 1950s. Henning volunteered to work some Sundays and traded with another checker. Henning did not mind working on Sundays.

TURNOVER RATE AT WOODMAN'S
Scope and Content Note: Today, it is high. Checker told her recently she is only working 12 hours a week. The store does not want clerks to work 40 hours a week. Scheduling is a problem.

HENNING WANTED TO BE ASSIGNED TO THE SAME REGISTER EVERY DAY
Scope and Content Note: “The one thing I used to hate when I was working is, I liked to have the same register every day, because you learn the touch of the register, and you learn the keys of the register, and...you learn the feel of the register..., and I don't like anybody pushing me from one register to another.” Henning had her own register.

PART-TIMERS
Scope and Content Note: Management does not want clerks working 40 hours a week. Suggests even seniority rights to available hours does not help because management employs so many and hard to keep track of scheduling. Perhaps 100 time cards at Woodman's now. The union tried to improve wages for part-time help so employer would be just as disposed to hire full-time help. But management still wants more part-timers because will not have to pay as much in benefits. “But I still contend a full-time clerk takes more interest in their job than a part-time clerk does.” Henning was one of the last full-time clerks at Woodman's.

EVENING HOURS AT WOODMAN'S
Scope and Content Note: Did not start staying open evenings until the new store opened in 1972. Hours were 8 a.m. until midnight. In the old store, closed at 9 p.m. Friday night, 6 p.m. Saturday. She worked nights, but only until 9 p.m.

HOW MANAGEMENT MEASURES PRODUCTIVITY
Scope and Content Note: Management can tell just by observing. Only subjective measurement of productivity. Henning had to work faster and harder at Woodman's than other stores she worked at.

STOCKING AT WOODMAN'S
Scope and Content Note: Only boys stocked shelves at the new Woodman's at night. Shipments arrived three days a week after 6 p.m., and up to 12 boys came in to unload onto shelves. Checkers tended to dairy and other departments when not busy.

WOODMAN'S USED MEN AS CHECKERS
Scope and Content Note: Started women packing and carrying out groceries. They could become checkers “if they stayed that long.” “I think that's terrible.... I still say that is not a man's job at the cash register, 'cause they aren't interested....” Men became checkers only after Henning retired.

SHOPLIFTERS
Scope and Content Note: “Lots of them--lots of them.” Clerks report shoplifters to managers. Formerly could not stop them until out the door; now can stop them at the checking lane. Shoplifters sometimes prosecuted. All told by manager not to enter the store again.

CHANGES IN STOCKING
Scope and Content Note: Stores used to rotate; Woodman's does not--puts fresh in front. Women in Woodman's old Milton Avenue store rotated stock and also dusted shelves.

MARKING PRICES
Scope and Content Note: Formerly used black pencils, then gun labeler, which was faster.

STORE PERSONNEL HAS NOT CHANGED MUCH OVER THE YEARS
Scope and Content Note: “Usually, the people that work in the grocery stores are people that like that type of work.” More to do in grocery stores than in clothing stores. Job pays better these days. The union has helped, but young workers do not appreciate it.

PUBLIC'S IMPRESSION OF CLERKS
Scope and Content Note: Demeanor of clerks often determines whether a customer returns. “If you got a clerk that's pleasant, you're bound and determined to try to pick that...checker out when you go into that store the next time.” Anecdote about how even a new register which can cause checker to err can create an impression, although store manager readily gave refund. But it irked Henning, because “here she was telling me how she liked these new registers and then made a mistake on my tape.”

CONSUMER PROBLEMS OF CHECKING OUT AT A SCANNER
Scope and Content Note: Woodman's does not post all prices on the shelves. Therefore, it is hard to know if the correct price is being charged at scanner checkout. Also, she wonders if latest price changes are reflected on the Universal Product Code.

WHAT STORE EMPLOYEES TALK ABOUT AT WORK
Scope and Content Note: They talk about work, job tasks they do not like, and not getting the same hours as somebody else. Biggest complaints are job assignments and hours.

MOST COMMON FORMAL GRIEVANCES
Scope and Content Note: Inaccurate computation of wages was “the biggest grievance of all.”

END OF TAPE 3, SIDE 2

INTRODUCTION

MORE ON GRIEVANCES

ANECDOTE ABOUT A CAUSE FOR EMPLOYEE DISMISSAL
Scope and Content Note: Employee had somehow pocketed money in a bottle exchange transaction. Henning might have been called as a witness, though she had little to tell because she was busy watching her own register. Case settled out of court.

MORE ON HOW GRIEVANCES WERE SETTLED
Scope and Content Note: Recalls no arbitrations. Business representatives usually able to settle grievances.

CUSTOMER RELATIONS
Scope and Content Note: -Customers avoid the grumpy clerks. Public image has become more favorable. Phil Woodman wanted checkers to tell customers to “have a good day,” but Henning could not do that, because some people do not have good days, especially when they have to pay high grocery prices. Store management not as interested in customers as previously. Want checkers to hurry customers out of the store. When she worked for Lyle Graves, a husband might have Henning tell his wife to bring something home from the store, or a child would ask Henning to tell his mother where he would be. “I got to learn families. You don't do that any more.” New Woodman's store not designed well for older people. Some items placed in back, making a long walk for the elderly. Store lacks “the personal touch.” Clerks not supposed to talk to customers, but rather “get 'em out.” Previously, people would tell her their problems. Her husband used to say people liked to get things off their chests.

HENNING ALWAYS LIKED WORKING IN GROCERY STORES
Scope and Content Note: “Grocery business has been my life.” She still enjoys visiting stores, checking prices, and observing checker interest. “I can't say there was anything I didn't like about the work.”

ASPIRATIONS OF YOUNG CLERKS TODAY
Scope and Content Note: One young clerk expressed hope to Henning she could work as long as Henning had in a grocery store, but she was laid off not long after Henning retired. Another young clerk asked for a week's vacation after having been at work perhaps two weeks. She, like others, are not interested in steady work. Creates much turnover. Some managers do not treat employees very well. Young employees do not want to work under such conditions.

MORE ON PART-TIME AND FULL-TIME HELP
Scope and Content Note: In the 1940s and 1950s, the union helped achieve gains for part-timers.

WAGE DIFFERENTIAL BETWEEN MEN AND WOMEN
Scope and Content Note: “Men always got more than the women did...because they figured the women weren't worth as much as the men were.” She does not believe in the Equal Rights Amendment but does believe women should be paid the same as men for the same work. But some jobs are for men only.

ANECDOTE ABOUT WOMAN AT WOODMAN'S BEING SHIFTED FROM PRODUCE TO BAKERY
Scope and Content Note: Woman worked there for years but did relatively little lifting. Woodman's nephew asked to be transferred from the back room unloading heavy crates because of arthritis problem. So he was put in produce, the woman transferred to the bakery where she works 4 a.m. to noon. Woman will not quit over that because she is close to retirement.

RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN CLERKS AND MEAT CUTTERS UNIONS
Scope and Content Note: “Far apart.” Meat Cutters were stronger than Clerks. Clerks not nearly as determined. Clerks and Meat Cutters honored each other's picket lines.

LOCAL 1139 HAD STORE MANAGERS AS MEMBERS AS LATE AS 1959
Scope and Content Note: Both worked for Woodman's. Stayed in the union because no one made an issue about it. “And the managers were smart. They knew that if they belonged to the union, Woodman's couldn't kick 'em out.” Managers are not supposed to be allowed in the union. These two managers are likely still in the union, but no longer managers. Another manager was a union vice president but was really “under the thumb” of the Woodman family.

EXAMPLES OF CHILDREN FOLLOWING PARENTS INTO GROCERY STORE WORK

WAGES IN TOWNS NEAR JANESVILLE
Scope and Content Note: Wages in nearby towns were lower because stores did not do as much business. Eventually wages raised to Janesville level.

ATTITUDES OF STORE OWNERS TOWARD EMPLOYEES
Scope and Content Note: Employers generally treated their employees “decently.”

THE UNION HAD NO SPECIAL INDOCTRINATION PROGRAM FOR NEW MEMBERS

TIME CLOCKS
Scope and Content Note: Put in in the late 1950s at the owners' insistence because people dallied.

BREAKS
Scope and Content Note: “I never took a break at Lyle Graves'.” But other stores had breaks.

HENNING SUMMARIZES HER YEARS OF WORK IN GROCERY STORES
Scope and Content Note: Stores are bigger. She still enjoys going in stores and looking at layouts. “People don't have the...really right down deep feeling for a job like they used to have.”

END OF INTERVIEW