Container
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Title
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Audio 959A
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Subseries: Gartzke, Frederick F.
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Tape/Side
1/1
Time
00:00
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INTRODUCTION
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Tape/Side
1/1
Time
00:55
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BIOGRAPHICAL INFORMATION : Born in Oconomowoc, Wisconsin (1923), and lived outside of town with his parents and four siblings, none of whom became meat cutters. Gartzke's mother was a domestic; his father, a farmer.
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Tape/Side
1/1
Time
03:00
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REMINISCENCES OF LIFE IN OCONOMOWOC DURING THE DEPRESSION : It was possible to buy a box of groceries “the size of a toilet tissue box” for $25 and three pounds of pork liver for 25 cents. City streets were paved with tar-covered wood blocks. His father worked repairing streets, and after school, the children helped the family by knocking tar off blocks so they could be used in the wood-burning furnace. “That was our fuel for the winter.”
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Tape/Side
1/1
Time
05:00
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CHILDHOOD JOBS AND WORK ASPIRATIONS : He had various “neighborhood” jobs, including a paper route. “People then were just living from day to day.” People took what jobs they could get. No one forced him to get a job. He worked because that was a common goal. Recalls having 53 customers on his paper route. “That was my first real job.” He was paid one and a half cents on daily papers, and four cents on the Sunday papers. It was hard for young kids like himself to carry the accounts of monthly customers.
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Tape/Side
1/1
Time
10:00
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HOW HE BECAME INTERESTED IN BECOMING A MEAT CUTTER : Started by riding on a grocery delivery wagon driven by a neighborhood acquaintance. He took over occasionally when the driver became sick, then delivered groceries door to door four times daily. Gradually learned how to work at the service meat counter for the store, to kill and deliver chickens, to make sausage, prepare veal, and other meat market duties.
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Tape/Side
1/1
Time
13:00
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WORK IN HENSCHEL'S MEAT MARKET IN OCONOMOWOC : Small, independent market employing five men and two women, where Gartzke worked in the early 1940s for two years. “The girls answered the phone, the men cut the meat and delivered it, made the sausage, killed chickens, killed veal, and all of that.” He readied orders for delivery, and delivered orders “door to door.”
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Tape/Side
1/1
Time
14:20
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HOW HE WAS TRAINED TO CUT MEAT AND MAKE SAUSAGE : Sausage was made every Tuesday afternoon. “We had to sit there and knead that sausage by hand...in a big washtub with all this meat and mixing it up.” Knew the sausage was ready if the 40- to 50-pound tub of meat could be lifted just by sticking hands into it and lifting it from the meat. Also learned how to kill and eviscerate chickens in the back room and the basement. “Charlie” killed veal on Tuesday afternoons. Still in high school, Gartzke was not considered old enough to slaughter veal himself. “I never did kill any calves. All I did was watch them.” Later he learned how to break down quarters of beef into primal cuts--ribs, chucks, rounds, loins.
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Tape/Side
1/1
Time
17:45
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DESCRIBES HOW QUARTERS WERE BROKEN DOWN : The shank and brisket were cut from the forequarter, leaving the ribs and chucks. From the hindquarter came the clod and the flank. When he began, the sirloin tip was left on the sirloin rather than removed and sold separately as it is today. Loins were separated from the rounds, leaving the rump roast, the loins and the steaks from it, and some ground beef, which came from the hindquarters. All primal cuts were then re-cut into retail cuts. He learned this trade while working during the summers as a high school student.
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Tape/Side
1/1
Time
20:30
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SUMMER WORK FOR FARMERS' EXCHANGE : Before working for Henschel's and learning this trade, he worked at the Farmers' Exchange (1942 to 1943), where farmers exchanged eggs and other items for groceries. Meat sold there was not as good a quality as at Henschel's.
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Tape/Side
1/1
Time
22:20
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TYPICAL WORK DAY AT HENSCHEL'S MEAT MARKET : Began work at 7 a.m. getting ready for 8 a.m. deliveries. Returned from deliveries at 9 or 9:30. Routine continued throughout the day. Sometimes he made special deliveries phoned in. On days he had few deliveries to make, he learned how to make sausage, scraped wooden blocks, swept floors, cleaned up, and closed at 6 p.m. On Saturdays, they worked from 7 a.m. until 10 p.m. On those nights, they washed grinders, cubing machines and counters. He made $22.50 for a 57-hour week. He made $27.50 for a 48-hour work week in his first meat cutting job.
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Tape/Side
1/1
Time
27:05
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END OF TAPE 1, SIDE 1
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Tape/Side
1/2
Time
00:00
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INTRODUCTION
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Tape/Side
1/2
Time
00:30
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DIFFERENCE BETWEEN HENSCHEL'S AND FARMERS' EXCHANGE : Henschel's did their own slaughtering; Farmers' Exchange bought meat from Armour, Hormel, Plankington, Swift; either in quarters or, as with pork, in loins and butts. He learned more about his trade at Henschel's. Learned how to make sausage, killed own chickens and veal, smoked some hams. “We had a better clientele of customers at Henschel's than we had at Farmers' Exchange.” Henschel's catered to summer vacationers, the hospital, people with more money.
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Tape/Side
1/2
Time
03:30
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WORK AT THE FARMERS' EXCHANGE : He took a job there because wages and hours were better. Made $27 a week for a 48-hour week. He worked after school and full-time in the summer. There were no benefits.
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Tape/Side
1/2
Time
04:50
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BEGAN WORK FOR NATIONAL TEA COMPANY IN OCONOMOWOC IN 1943, THEN WAS DRAFTED INTO THE ARMY SEVEN MONTHS LATER : In the Army, Gartzke went to cook and bakers' school. Was in the Army three years.
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Tape/Side
1/2
Time
05:55
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RETURNED TO NATIONAL TEA WHEN RELEASED FROM THE ARMY IN 1946 : Burlington store needed a meat cutter, so instead of taking a month's vacation after his discharge, he returned to work in just five days. Service time counted toward pension. He worked for National 30 years.
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Tape/Side
1/2
Time
08:10
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GARTZKE MOVES TO BURLINGTON : Generally he liked Burlington, though not the weekend commutes to visit his mother, who had moved to Milwaukee. Lived with his boss in Oconomowoc. His wife was then a checker in the same store. They were married in 1951. She worked for 25 years as a checker. He was transferred to the National store in Elkhorn in about 1971.
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Tape/Side
1/2
Time
11:20
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MOST IMPORTANT CHANGES IN WORKING FOR NATIONAL TEA FOR 30 YEARS : The change from service to self-service meat departments, and from quarters to primal cuts, were the most important. “We didn't have to handle...meats so much....” Cold cuts used to be sliced by hand; now they are pre-packaged.
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Tape/Side
1/2
Time
15:30
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MAJOR IMPROVEMENTS IN WORKING CONDITIONS : Began working 48 hours a week and gradually lowered to 40 hours. The Amalgamated Meat Cutters and Butcher Workmen (AMC&BW) helped protect workers from employers who might otherwise be able to dismiss employees with little or no cause.
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Tape/Side
1/2
Time
17:10
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IMPROVEMENTS IN MEAT INSPECTION LAWS : When he began, only wholesalers were inspected by government inspectors. Retail markets were not. Retail inspectors first made an appearance after World War II.
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Tape/Side
1/2
Time
19:00
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OTHER CHANGES GARTZKE THINKS ARE IMPORTANT : Packaging of meat and meat process are much different.
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Tape/Side
1/2
Time
19:30
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HEALTH AND SAFETY PROBLEMS OF MEAT CUTTERS : Cold affected some meat cutters. He wore long underwear for protection. Cellophane wrap allegedly gives off fumes when burned or sealed in meat departments which may injure lungs. He does not know anyone who has developed lung problems from these fumes. Health and safety inspections generally helped keep work places clean and safe. A friend, also a meat cutter, had leg stripped from varicose veins when only 27 or 28 years old.
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Tape/Side
1/2
Time
24:10
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BIGGEST GAIN IN CONTRACT PROVISIONS DURING THE YEARS HE WAS A MEAT CUTTER : Benefits in general, but especially days off, hospitalization, seniority, vacations. By the time he retired, he had five weeks of paid vacation a year. “That was one of my biggest losses.” “I didn't need it, I just missed it.” He also appreciated eye care and dental care benefits. He brought work pressures home with him and especially looked forward to vacations to help relieve accumulated tensions. Only married meat cutters with children could take vacations during summers in Lake Geneva stores, because that resort town did most of its business in the summer season.
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Tape/Side
1/2
Time
28:50
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END OF TAPE 1, SIDE 2
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Tape/Side
2/1
Time
00:00
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INTRODUCTION
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Tape/Side
2/1
Time
00:30
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DESCRIPTION OF TYPICAL GROCERY STORES OF THE 1950s : Stores had aisles lined with grocery products. Produce departments were not refrigerated. Produce was displayed on wooden racks in the mornings, returned to refrigerators in the evenings.
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Tape/Side
2/1
Time
01:40
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CHANGES IN THE MEAT DEPARTMENT SINCE THE 1950s : Meat was displayed in refrigerated cases. Before pre-packaged meats, some kinds of meat had to be re-cut. Wrapping machines, grinders, primal cuts, pre-ground hamburger all helped cut down on work loads. Chickens also began to arrive at stores prepacked. In the 1950s, meat cutters would cut and tray meat; conveyor would transport it to the wrapper who wrapped, weighed and priced meat. Computers later were added which did weighing and pricing automatically.
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Tape/Side
2/1
Time
06:35
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WEEKLY AND DAILY WORK SCHEDULES : Market manager, with help from the district manager, set work schedules. Meat cutters could not take either Mondays off (meat had to be unloaded and cut) or Thursdays through Saturdays (weekend business). Later the “meat specialist...kind of ran the show.” Meat cutters learned daily tasks primarily from experience: they knew what had to be done to keep the counters full. Meat specialist often would rearrange cases and make other changes.
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Tape/Side
2/1
Time
09:30
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RELATIONSHIP OF MEAT DEPARTMENT TO STORE LAYOUT : Big-profit items were put near the store entrance; impulse items in the middle of the store; hard-to-sell items “were put in a convenient place.” Name-brand products were put at eye level. Stores put produce and meat departments first in customer traffic in the 1950s and 1960s. “A woman built her grocery shopping around her meat and her vegetables.”
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Tape/Side
2/1
Time
11:10
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GARTZKE'S ROLE IN MERCHANDISING MEAT : It was important to have meat counters looking good. “I always had that saying of 'eye appeal is buy appeal.' If it don't look good, you ain't gonna sell it, no matter how low the price is.” He also would instruct meat wrappers to pull and perhaps rewrap or dispose of old meat or broken packages. “If it didn't look right to you, get it out!”
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Tape/Side
2/1
Time
13:30
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PRODUCTIVITY : Concerns about productivity arose during contract negotiations. “You were always working against dollars per man hour.” Management representatives compared current year's performance with past performance, sometimes comparing periods when productivity increased due to special sales or quantity purchases by organizations with same calendar periods when there were no such sales. Productivity was measured by how well the daily tasks were completed and by the department's overall sales per man hour or tonnage. Productivity figures were computed from figures on weekly forms listing the amount of meat received and sold, and the number of employee hours worked. One week's figures could determine what the company expected the following week. If sales declined, employee hours might be cut. Special chicken sales of 39 cents a pound meant total meat department tonnage had to be increased to offset lower prices. “You had a hell of a time making your dollar per man hour.” “You'd just cringe whenever you had a chicken sale, because there was no dollar volume there.” Beef sales produced more work but at least helped increase dollar volume and tonnage.
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Tape/Side
2/1
Time
21:20
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HOW MANAGEMENT TRIED TO GET WORKERS TO INCREASE PRODUCTIVITY : “Their famous saying was 'Don't work harder. Work smarter.'” That meant “cut corners”; save time. Company suggested that meat cutters grind 50 or 100 pounds of hamburger instead of 25 pounds. Company “meat specialists” especially encouraged meat cutters to cut corners, but often customers would ask for help and take Gartzke away from tasks, thereby slowing down his “production.” Employees cooperated as much as possible to help meet company productivity goals.
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Tape/Side
2/1
Time
24:15
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NEW MACHINES AIMED AT HELPING TO INCREASE PRODUCTIVITY : There were grinders, cubing machines (to make cubed steak from round steak), wrapping and scaling machines, and machines which stuffed sausage by air. High-pressure machines were developed to reduce clean-up time to as little as 30 minutes.
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Tape/Side
2/1
Time
26:50
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GARTZKE'S VIEWS ON CUSTOMERS : Generally he did not like to wait on customers, because “most of them were fussy customers.” Some preferred to see meat cut fresh rather than buy the same cut, almost as fresh, from the counter.
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Tape/Side
2/1
Time
27:15
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END OF TAPE 2, SIDE 1
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Tape/Side
2/2
Time
00:00
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INTRODUCTION
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Tape/Side
2/2
Time
00:30
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BOXED BEEF : First introduced into National stores in 1968 or 1970. Company seminars for meat cutters “proved” that buying boxed beef in primal cuts was more “efficient” than buying beef in quarters. Boxed beef was easier to unload than quarters. Pork was brought in loins, hams, butts; never in quarters. National bought its boxed beef from wholesalers like Kenosha Pack, Iowa Beef Packers, Mumford and others. National had its own central meat-processing plant in Chicago.
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Tape/Side
2/2
Time
04:15
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REACTION OF GARTZKE AND OTHER MEAT CUTTERS TO BOXED BEEF : It increased the work load because it reduced the number of work hours. He liked not having to lift such heavy weights, but there still was much work to be done by fewer employees.
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Tape/Side
2/2
Time
05:55
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NEW MEAT WRAPPING MACHINES ALSO REDUCED EMPLOYEES' WORK HOURS
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Tape/Side
2/2
Time
06:35
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MORE ON THE REACTION TO BOXED BEEF : In some ways, it was very helpful. If they wanted a sale on round steaks, they had to order just rounds, not whole quarters, which had to be trimmed. Overall though, “you were just about the same as you were before, with less help.” National continued to use boxed beef until its stores were closed in 1976. Boxed beef is not a thing of the future; “it's here.” The “ma and pa” stores will continue to decline.
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Tape/Side
2/2
Time
09:45
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WORK SUPERVISION : He. was supervised by the meat market manager, who in turn reported to the company's “meat specialist.” Company's head meat buyer had overall supervision. His main responsibilities were to keep up production and keep the meat department clean and orderly.
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Tape/Side
2/2
Time
11:55
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NATIONAL'S MEAT DEPARTMENTS HAD UNIFORM APPEARANCE AND HAMBURGER PREPARATION POLICIES : Meat counters were arranged the same way in all National stores for most of the years Gartzke worked for the company. National was especially concerned about maintaining strict standards on the fat content in hamburger (no more than 30% fat). Some meat cutters and market managers lost their jobs for not maintaining this standard. Machines were devised to test fat content. Meat cutters made hamburger from lean boneless beef, bought in 60-pound boxes, to which they added trimmings from choice beef. Ground chuck was 81% lean, 19% fat. State inspectors would report violations of fat content level to company meat specialists, who in turn would visit stores where violations occurred and reprimand the meat cutters. The union would also be informed.
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Tape/Side
2/2
Time
18:15
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WORK RULE VIOLATIONS RESULTING IN REPRIMANDS : These included not rotating stock, dishonesty, tardiness, mis-wrapping meat. Not many people were written up for violations. Absenteeism was a problem. “It's like they say in the car business: 'Don't buy... any cars made on Monday.'” Alcoholism on the job was not a frequent problem but it did occur.
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Tape/Side
2/2
Time
21:50
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MOST COMPLAINTS ABOUT WORK PERFORMANCE WERE HANDLED BY STORE MANAGERS
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Tape/Side
2/2
Time
23:00
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CUSTOMER RELATIONS : Customers with complaints often wrote company headquarters. “Some of the meat cutters were a little bit short with their customers.”
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Tape/Side
2/2
Time
24:05
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MOST COMMON EMPLOYEE COMPLAINTS ABOUT MANAGEMENT : Working conditions, job pressures, disputes about vacation time and the length of apprenticeship. They also complained about co-workers whose absenteeism resulted in more work. The grievance procedure has worked well. He never filed a grievance.
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Tape/Side
2/2
Time
26:20
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END OF TAPE 2, SIDE 2
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Tape/Side
3/1
Time
00:00
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INTRODUCTION
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Tape/Side
3/1
Time
00:30
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GARTZKE'S UNION AFFILIATION : Joined the union in 1953. The National store where he worked was not unionized at that time. Impetus to organize came from comparison of wages and hours with Milwaukee meat cutters. Meat cutters had to pay the same grocery prices as did summer vacationers in Lake Geneva but were not making high enough wages. Before joining the union, they worked 48-hour weeks. Mike Weiss, from Local 358 in Janesville, organized the store. During the summer, there were six meat cutters employed in the store; in winter, the store employed two full-time and one part-time cutter. The union had an induction ceremony for new members. The Committee on Political Education (COPE) provided political and union education for members. Gartzke attended meetings regularly. The union discounted dues for members who travelled some distance to attend meetings. Meetings were well attended by local meat cutters and wrappers, but not that well attended by members from outlying areas. He never held union office or served on union committees.
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Tape/Side
3/1
Time
08:20
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UNION MEMBERS HAD DIFFICULTY GETTING MEAT CUTTERS IN INDEPENDENT STORES TO JOIN : It took many years to convince such meat cutters to join the union, even though they made as much as $3 an hour less than union meat cutters.
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Tape/Side
3/1
Time
11:05
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GARTZKE PARTICIPATED IN MEETINGS ON CONTRACT DEMANDS : Members had opportunities to make their concerns known. “If you don't get up and talk, it's your own damn fault. You only get out of it what you put into it.”
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Tape/Side
3/1
Time
12:30
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THE UNION HAD LITTLE CONTACT WITH EMPLOYEES IN THE STORES : At first, the business representative would collect dues in person every month. Then dues were mailed in.
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Tape/Side
3/1
Time
13:50
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THERE WERE NO STRIKES IN GARTZKE'S STORE : Employees sometimes worked without a contract and always received retroactive pay after the contract was ratified.
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Tape/Side
3/1
Time
14:30
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MANAGEMENT BALKED MOST OFTEN ABOUT DEMANDS FOR WAGE INCREASES
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Tape/Side
3/1
Time
15:00
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THE COMPANY GENERALLY ABIDED BY CONTRACT PROVISIONS.
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Tape/Side
3/1
Time
15:55
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COMPLAINTS BY MANAGEMENT ABOUT THE UNION ABIDING BY CONTRACT PROVISIONS WERE NEGOTIATED AND SETTLED BETWEEN UNION REPRESENTATIVES AND CORPORATE MANAGERS
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Tape/Side
3/1
Time
16:45
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RELATIONSHIP WITH THE RETAIL CLERKS INTERNATIONAL ASSOCIATION (RCIA) : Clerks were not organized in his store until 1960 or 1965. Meat Cutters and Clerks had a good working relationship.
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Tape/Side
3/1
Time
17:30
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GARTZKE'S REACTION TO MERGER BETWEEN LOCAL 358 AND LOCAL 502 (MADISON) IN 1962 : He had to travel farther to union meetings, but the merger “gave us more clout. We were bigger then.”
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Tape/Side
3/1
Time
19:00
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HE THINKS UNIONS SHOULD STICK TO STRICTLY UNION BUSINESS AND NOT BE INVOLVED IN POLITICS : Unions may endorse candidates, but “I'll vote the way I want to.”
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Tape/Side
3/1
Time
20:50
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OVERALL, HE FOUND HIS WORK SATISFYING : What Gartzke liked most about his work: “To be able to meet people--be involved with people.” He was able to help people meet budgets. He still regrets not having become a male nurse just after he was discharged from the Army. It is becoming more difficult to find gainful employment as a meat cutter.
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Tape/Side
3/1
Time
24:05
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HE LOST HIS JOB WITH NATIONAL TEA WHEN THE COMPANY CLOSED ITS STORES IN DECEMBER 1976 : He worked two years at an independent supermarket before retiring in 1979. Employees knew the stores were in financial trouble long before they were closed. There were layoffs, department closings--”you could see the handwriting on the wall.” Losing all the vacation time he had accumulated “was one of my biggest shocks.”
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Tape/Side
3/1
Time
27:45
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THERE ARE NOT MANY LONG-TIME MEAT CUTTERS STILL EMPLOYED : Some have found work elsewhere. And young people “don't stick” with the trade because “they don't like confinement” and are impatient.
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Tape/Side
3/1
Time
29:30
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END OF INTERVIEW
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