Wal-Mart Stores

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Jun 30, 1999

328 N.L.R.B. 904 (N.L.R.B. 1999)

DECISIONS OF THE NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD 904
Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. and United Food and Com-
mercial Workers Local Union 534, AFL–CIO,
CLC, Petitioner. Case 14–RC–11759
June 30, 1999
DECISION ON REVIEW, ORDER, AND DIRECTION
OF ELECTION
BY CHAIRMAN TRUESDALE AND MEMBERS FOX
AND LIEBMAN
On April 16, 1997, the Regional Director for Region
14 of the National Labor Relations Board issued a Deci-
sion and Order in the above-captioned case finding the
petitioned-for unit of the Employer’s meatcutters, or al-
ternately, meat department employees at its Jerseyville,
Illinois store to be inappropriate. The Regional Director
found that a separate meat department unit is not pre-
sumptively appropriate, and applying the test set forth in
Scolari’s Warehouse Markets, Inc.,1 concluded that the
meat department employees do not have a distinct com-
munity of interest warranting a separate unit. On April
30, 1997, Petitioner filed a timely request for review,
arguing that a unit of meatcutters, or alternately, of meat
department employees is appropriate. On May 27, 1997,
the Board granted review. The Employer and the Peti-
tioner submitted briefs on review.
We have carefully considered the record, including the
parties’ briefs on review. We agree with the Regional
Director that the petitioned-for unit limited to meatcut-
ters is inappropriate. Contrary to the Regional Director,
however, we find that the Petitioner’s alternative request
for a unit of meat department employees is appropriate.
Therefore, we reverse the Regional Director’s Decision
and Order dismissing the petition, reinstate the petition,
and direct an election in a unit of the Employer’s meat
department employees.
I. BACKGROUND FACTS
The Employer’s Jerseyville Wal-Mart store is one of
approximately 350 supercenters. The Jerseyville super-
center includes both a traditional Wal-Mart store and
separate full-service grocery store; is divided into several
departments including, inter alia, the grocery store and
housewares, clothing, electronics, hardware, one-hour
photo, and optical; and employs 285 to 290 hourly em-
ployees. The meat department is a separate area located
on the perimeter of the grocery between the deli and pro-
duce departments and includes a cutting room, display
cases, and a cooler (which is shared with the deli).
There is nothing in the record indicating whether Peti-
tioner or any other labor organization has previously rep-
resented or has sought to represent the meat department.
No other labor organization seeks a broader unit.
The Jerseyville store’s management includes a store
manager and two comanagers who oversee a total of six
assistant managers, four of whom work during the day
and evening and two who work overnight. On the gro-
cery side, each of the assistant managers oversees two
cost areas—the meat, produce, deli, or bakery depart-
ments, each of which has a department manager who
reports to the assistant manager. In addition, there are 10
zone managers and 1 management trainee.2 There are
also six customer service managers that supervise the
front end of the store.

1 319 NLRB 153 (1995).
The Petitioner seeks a unit of four meatcutters. Alter-
nately, the Petitioner is willing to represent the entire
meat department, including the meatcutters, two clean up
persons (cleaners), and one wrapper. The Employer con-
tends that only a storewide unit is appropriate.
II. APPLICABLE PRECEDENT
The Board historically found that employees in meat
departments constituted presumptively appropriate sepa-
rate units because the meatcutters “exercised a broad
range of traditional meatcutter skills marking them as
craftspeople.”3 As boxed meats have become more
prevalent in the grocery industry, meatcutters have exer-
cised fewer of the traditional craftsperson meatcutting
skills, such as cutting whole animal carcasses into primal
and subprimal sections, and boning, seaming, and trim-
ming meats. Thus, in Scolari’s Warehouse Markets,4 the
Board explained that meatcutters who worked primarily
with boxed primal and subprimal meat did not warrant
the presumption of appropriateness historically afforded
to craftsperson meatcutters. The Board, however, has
found that such meatcutters, together with other meat
department employees, may still constitute a separate
appropriate unit as measured by the Board’s traditional
community-of-interest factors. In determining whether
meat department associates share a distinct community
of interest, the Board examines the actual work per-
formed by the meatcutters to determine if the processing
of boxed primal and subprimal meats involves “substan-
tial meatcutting skills which are distinct from the skills of
other supermarket employees.”5 In addition to examin-
ing the employees’ skills, the Board looks to other com-
munity-of-interest factors to determine if the meat de-
partment employees share a community of interest with
each other distinct from other employees in the store,
with no one factor considered determinative.6 In Sco-
lari’s, community of interest among meat department
employees was measured by whether: (1) the substantial
portion of the Employer’s meat department business in-
volves boxed meat; (2) the continued application of spe-
cialized meatcutting skills is necessary for the processing
of the boxed meat; (3) the meatcutters are highly trained;
2 The record is unclear as to the function of the zone managers.
3 See, e.g., R-N Market, Inc., 190 NLRB 292 (1971); Big Y Foods,
Inc., 238 NLRB 855 (1978).
4 319 NLRB 153 (1995).
5 Id. at 156 (emphasis added).
6 See also Super K Mart Center, 323 NLRB 582 (1997).
328 NLRB No. 126
WAL-MART STORES 905
(4) a substantial percentage of the unit is engaged in
skilled meatcutting work; (5) the unit is separately super-
vised; (6) there is limited interchange and transfers be-
tween meat department employees and other store per-
sonnel; and (7) employees in the proposed meat depart-
ment unit receive higher wages than other store employ-
ees.
III. RELEVANT FACTS
A. Boxed meat
The Jerseyville meat department does not butcher
whole carcasses or sides of beef. Rather, the department
sells a variety of meat products that arrive at the store at
least partially processed. Approximately 30 percent of
the department’s retail sales consist of ground meats,7 an
unspecified portion of which comes already ground,
wrapped, and case-ready. The rest is ground on site.
Frozen foods,8 which also come case-ready, constitute 22
percent of Employer’s sales. Poultry, including fresh
chicken and turkey, which constitutes 15 percent of the
department’s retail sales, arrives at the store precut,
packaged, priced, and ready to put in the case. Meats
that require at least some cutting include fresh, boxed
beef and pork, constituting 15 percent and 11.4 percent
of the department’s sales, respectively. The remainder of
the department’s sales includes smoked meats, such as
hams (3 percent), fresh seafood (1-1/2 percent), fully
cooked meats (1 percent), and veal and lamb (slightly
less than 1 percent). The Jerseyville meat department’s
retail sales average approximately $28,000 per week.
The Jerseyville store receives its beef from producers
in boxes. Each box contains a number of precut, bone-
less cuts, termed subprimal and sub-subprimal, that
weigh 8 to 25 pounds. Some of the beef and pork cuts,
such as beef eye roasts, require no cutting at all. These
are called “freezer buys.” For freezer buys, the meat
associates remove the cuts of meat from the box, label
them, and place them in the case for sale.
B. Skills
David Clegg, merchandising manager for the meat and
deli departments in over 28 of the Employer’s stores,
testified that 10 percent of the total product coming into
the meat department requires cutting by a meatcutter,9

7 Clegg testified that a “good portion” of the ground meat coming
into the Jerseyville store is already packed and case-ready. During an
average day, the meat department processes 250 pounds of ground beef,
with an additional 60 to 80 pounds ground by the cleaners at night.
8 The record indicates that frozen foods include frozen fish, seafood,
meats, and complete frozen dinners.
9 According to this witness, this figure is based on his analysis of the
department’s retail sales figures, taking into account the amount of beef
and pork that does not require cutting and the fact that beef and pork
are higher priced products. We note that there are conflicts on the
record as to whether this 10-percent figure refers to time spent cutting
meat solely with a knife or with a saw, or whether this figure refers to
the total time spent cutting with either a knife or saw. In any event, we
do not feel that this figure contradicts the testimony of the meatcutters
and that meatcutters themselves spend less than 10 per-
cent of their time cutting meat with a knife or saw, noting
that most of the cutting is done with saw. In contrast,
one meatcutter testified that 90 percent of his time is
spent “handling” meat. According to this witness, han-
dling meat includes not only cutting meat, but the entire
process by which the meat is unloaded from the trucks,
unpacked, cut, custom cut, ground, made into sausage, or
reworked. This handling time also includes wrapping,
shelving meats, setting up the saw, and sanitizing the
department.
On a typical day, the meatcutters will first determine
what cuts of meat are required. This involves examining
the retail cases, and filling out a “cut list.”10 In examin-
ing the cases, a meat associate may also remove mer-
chandise whose packaging has been damaged or whose
expiration date has passed. Expired meats are discarded.
Meats whose packages have been damaged are first
checked by the meatcutter to determine if they are still
fresh. The meatcutter examines the meat and checks for
discoloration or odor indicating that it should be dis-
carded; fresh meats whose packages are damaged are
“reworked,” which entails processing the cut meat into
cube steaks, stew meat, or ground meat.
Once they have composed the daily cut list, meatcut-
ters remove the proper portions from the boxes to cut.
Meatcutting is done primarily on a band saw that is
equipped with interchangeable blades and a calibrated
guide that the meatcutter sets to the appropriate texture
and thickness. After sawing, the meatcutter may trim the
meat with a knife. Although knives and steels are pro-
vided by the store, at least one of the meatcutters pro-
vides his own. The cuts are then placed on trays, sent to
the wrapper, and placed on the shelves. Meatcutters en-
gage in little or no seaming, edging, or angling of the
meat.
The meatcutters, the wrapper, and the cleaners also
grind meats. Although some of the ground meat comes
to the store prepackaged and case-ready, the remainder of
the ground meat arrives partially ground in plastic tubes.

as their 90-percent figure includes a substantially broader range of
duties.
10 The cut list is a fairly involved document, listing a large number of
possible cuts available from pork, beef, veal, and lamb. Cuts are bro-
ken down by category. For instance, under the heading “Pork Loins”
one may select, e.g., loin chops, rib chops, rib half loins, loin half, pigs
feet, and neckbones.
There was some conflict among those who testified at the hearing as
to who has the authority to fill out the cut list and set the saws. Clegg
testified that only when the department manager is absent or otherwise
unavailable would another employee in the department prepare the cut
list. Clegg, however, conceded that he was not aware of the day-to-day
operation of the department as it pertained to this particular duty. The
two meatcutters who testified stated that during the 10 months they
worked at the Jerseyville store, one of the meatcutters filled out the cut
list on a daily basis without the manager’s assistance. The most re-
cently hired meat department manager has filled out the cut list during
the 3 to 4 days immediately preceding the hearing in this case, and may
continue to do so an a daily basis in the future.
DECISIONS OF THE NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD 906
The meat associates take preground meat from the tubes,
place it in the grinder, and press the button to start the
machine. Ground meat is then dispensed onto trays that
are sent to the wrapper to wrap and price. Some of the
ground beef may also consist of reworked meat that is
ground from whole slices of meat. Meatcutters use a
tenderizer to make cube steaks. This involves placing a
cut of meat into a slot at the top of the machine and col-
lecting the tenderized meat at the bottom. Meatcutters
also operate a slicer, but it is unclear from the record how
the slicer is used or what portion of the meatcutters’ time
is spent working with it. With the exception of the slicer,
which is also used in the deli department, no other store
department uses the type of machines located in the meat
department.
Meatcutters perform some custom cutting at the re-
quest of customers or through special orders from restau-
rants. In filling a customer’s order, meatcutters may cut
one of the larger portions of meat from the case, such as
hams, into smaller portions, or cut meat to a requested
thickness. Although the department has no standing or-
ders, it regularly receives orders for custom cuts from
two restaurants, two to three times a week.11 Filling
these orders involves cutting steaks to differing thickness
and hand-cutting chicken to order. In filling these or-
ders, meatcutters receive little or no instruction from the
department manager on how to make the cuts; they are
expected to have this knowledge based on their prior
experience.
C. Training
The management of the Jerseyville store considers the
meatcutter position to be an entry-level position. The
meatcutters who testified at the hearing, however, had
substantial experience when they were hired. For in-
stance, Mark Loy, who has been working as a meatcutter
for the employer since May 1996, testified that he has 21
years of experience in grocery, with between 10 to 12
years of experience in meatcutting. Meatcutter Michael
Burrows, who was hired in September 1996, has 9-1/2
years of experience in meatcutting, having worked in
both supermarkets and in a slaughterhouse.12 Burrows
was told that he was being hired because of his experi-
ence.
There is no meatcutter apprenticeship program; under
store policy the meat department manager is responsible
for training the meatcutters. Meatcutters, like all em-
ployees, are required to complete a computer based

11 It is unclear from the record how much time the meatcutters spend
on custom cutting or whether this work is part of the 10-percent figure
cited by Clegg as meat that required cutting. Further, there is some
conflict in the testimony over who takes custom orders. While Clegg
testified that the meat manager handled all custom orders, two meatcut-
ters testified that they took and filled custom orders as a matter of
course.
12 The record does not indicate how much experience the other two
meatcutters had when they were hired.
learning (CBL) course, which includes a component
dealing with meat equipment. Despite this policy, how-
ever, none of the meatcutters completed the CBL course
or otherwise received significant on the-the-job training
in meatcutting, beyond being informed of the store’s
meatcutting style. The meatcutters at the Jerseyville
store were hired with the expectation that they would be
able to fully perform on their hire and to adapt their cut-
ting style to that of Employer’s, which one meatcutter
testified to be slightly different than that of other super-
markets.13
D. Numbers of skilled employees
In addition to meatcutters, the meat department em-
ploys one wrapper and two cleaners. Although the
wrapper and the cleaners grind meats, they do not oper-
ate the saws or use knives. The wrapper works alongside
the meatcutters, receiving the cut meat, identifying it,
and coding it. A machine then wraps, weighs, and prices
the product. The wrapper also stocks the shelves. The
two cleaners remove trash and clean and sanitize the ma-
chines, saws, grinder, and display cases. Cleaners also
wrap meats and stock poultry and frozen food.
E. Supervisors
The meat department manager is a stipulated supervi-
sor who reports to the assistant manager for area A of the
store and whose authority is limited to the meat depart-
ment. According to Clegg, the meat manager is respon-
sible for the overall profit of the department, merchandis-
ing meat products, sanitation, supervision, training,
scheduling of the associates, organization of the depart-
ment, and customer service. According to the Employer,
vacancies in the meat department, like vacancies in the
rest of the store, are advertised and filled by the appro-
priate assistant manager who interviews all potential
candidates. The meat department manager may, how-
ever, take an active role in the hiring process, and previ-
ously at least one meat department manager has inter-
viewed and hired a meatcutter on his own accord. Since
the opening of the Jerseyville store, there have been three
meat department managers. The most recent manager
was hired approximately 1 week prior to the hearing in
this case.
F. Interchange and interaction
All of the meat associates—the meatcutters, the wrap-
per, and the cleaners—are physically stationed in the
meat department. The meat department consists of its
own cutting room and display cases and a cooler which it
shares with the deli department. Meat associates do not
13 According to one witness, Employer requires cuts to have differ-
ent trim and thickness than other stores. Meatcutter Loy testified that
he was instructed to adapt his style to that of Employer’s, but was not
trained in this particular style. Rather, Loy identified these differences
from his own examination of how the meat in the case had been cut,
and adapted his style accordingly when he began working for Em-
ployer.
WAL-MART STORES 907
substitute for associates in other departments, and other
departments’ associates do not fill in for meat associates.
In one instance, two grocery associates were asked to
assist in stocking frozen meats. Otherwise, meat associ-
ates rarely interchange with employees from other de-
partments. When the wrapper is absent, the meatcutters
wrap meat.
There have been a small number of permanent trans-
fers: one cleaner transferred into the department from the
position of cart pusher; one wrapper transferred into the
meat department from the bakery department; one meat-
cutter transferred out of the department to the overnight
receiving department; and one wrapper transferred to the
crafts department.
When fresh meat or deli items arrive, depending on the
time of day, meat, grocery, or deli department employees
will assist each other in unloading the truck to get the
merchandise into the store’s refrigeration as quickly as
possible. The produce being unloaded is for all of the
departments whose employees are involved, and there is
no evidence that this constitutes a significant part of the
employees’ time. Other than these shared tasks, interac-
tion between meat associates and other sales associates is
mostly limited to incidental contact between employees
in the employee lounge and the communal locker room.
Although the Employer has held daily store meetings that
all employees are encouraged to attend, meat associates
have generally not attended these meetings.14

G. Wages
The four meatcutters rotate between four different
shifts, 6 a.m. to 3 p.m., 7 a.m. to 4 p.m., noon to 7 p.m.
and 5 to 9 p.m.15 The meatcutters’ salaries range from a
starting salary of $8 an hour to $9.10 an hour, which is,
on average, higher than those of other sales associates
whose salaries range from $6.50 to $7 an hour, with a
few exceptions.16
The wrapper works from 7 a.m. to 4 p.m., and earns
$5.25 an hour. Cleaners work from 5 to 9 p.m. and from
noon to 7 p.m. Their salary ranges from $5.20 to $6.10
per hour.
IV. ANALYSIS OF FACTORS
A. Boxed meat
In the present case, approximately 57.4 percent of Em-
ployer’s meat sales consists of fresh beef, pork, lamb,
and veal that arrives at the store as boxed meats or tubes
of ground meat. These figures are comparable to recent

14 Meatcutter Loy testified that for the first 10 months the Jerseyville
store was open, the meat department did not attend daily meetings.
Since approximately February 1997, however, meat department em-
ployees have begun attending these meetings.
15 Other departments, such as the deli department, utilize similar
shift hours.
16 One dry grocery employee earns $8.55/hour, one dairy employee
earns $10.01/hour, associate cashiers earn $8.30/hour, and one stocker
in the health and beauty department earns $8.20/hour.
cases. For instance, in Scolari’s, 50 to 55 percent of the
department’s sales consisted of boxed meat; in Super K
Mart, boxed meat comprised 40 percent of the depart-
ment’s sales. Both of these figures include ground beef.
The Employer argues that the Jerseyville meatcutters cut
or process less than the total percentage of boxed meat
sold by the store, noting that some of the ground beef
arrives at Employer’s store already processed and case-
ready, as does an unspecified portion of the Employers
beef and pork. Nonetheless, the meatcutters here spend a
significant part of their time handling and cutting boxed
meat.
B. Skills
Although the Employer’s Jerseyville meatcutters, like
the meatcutters in Scolari’s, work mostly with boxed
meats and thus exercise fewer of the traditional meatcut-
ting skills, they continue to exercise “skills which are
distinct from the skills” of other store employees.17 The
meatcutters utilize equipment unique to the meat depart-
ment, such as saws, knives, grinders, and tenderizers, and
may provide their own knives or steels as did the meat-
cutters in Scolari’s and Super K Mart. Although the
meatcutters here may spend somewhat less time in cut-
ting meat than those in Scolari’s and Super K Mart, they
exercise comparable skills in cutting meat.
C. Training
The Employer’s hiring practices further support the
conclusion that meatcutters exercise skills distinct from
those exercised by other store employees. Indeed, meat-
cutter Michael Burrows was specifically told that he was
hired because of his extensive meatcutting experience.
Upon their hire, meatcutters are expected to perform the
full range of meatcutting work required by the Employer
as well as to adapt their cutting style to that of the Em-
ployer. That the Employer does not have a meatcutter
apprenticeship program or other formalized training in
meatcutting is of little relevance here, as the meatcutters
had prior experience when hired.18
D. Numbers of skilled employees
Meatcutters make up the substantial portion of Em-
ployer’s meat department, constituting four of seven em-
ployees. Although the two cleaners and wrapper may
grind meat, they never use the saws or knives, and are
not expected to know how to cut meat. Thus, 57 percent
of the unit engages in the more skilled meatcutting work.
This is similar to previous cases that ranged from 75 per-
cent of the unit in Scolari’s to slightly over 25 percent in
Super K Mart.
17 Scolari’s, 319 NLRB at 156.
18 The two meatcutters who testified had 9-1/2 and 12 years’ experi-
ence. Similarly, the meatcutters in Scolari’s and Super K Mart had
substantial prior meatcutting experience when hired.
DECISIONS OF THE NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD 908
E. Supervision
The Jerseyville meat department is separately super-
vised. The meat department manager is a stipulated su-
pervisor who plays an active role in the hiring of meat
department employees and is responsible for the output
and day-to-day running of the department.
F. Interchange and interaction
There is little interchange or interaction between meat
associates and other store employees. Meat associates do
not substitute for other store employees, and only on rare
occasion has a store manager sent an employee from
another department to perform meat department work
such as stocking shelves. Since the opening of the Jer-
seyville store, there have been three permanent transfers
among the lesser skilled employees and one transfer of a
meatcutter out of the department.19 Interaction with
other employees occurs primarily when meat, deli, and
grocery department employees work together in unload-
ing refrigerated produce for the departments involved.
G. Wages
On average, meatcutters’ rates of pay are higher than
those of employees in other departments, but in the same
range as some other highly paid employees scattered
throughout the store.20
V. CONCLUSIONS
A. Meatcutters’ unit
Because the meat cutters handle boxed cuts rather than
sides of beef, they no longer perform the full measure of
once traditional craft skills and are not an appropriate
craft-based unit. We further find that the cleaners and
wrapper share a close community of interest with the
meatcutters. They work in a separate area within the
store and perform work for the meat department. They
are commonly supervised by the meat department man-
ager and engage in common activities with the meatcut-
ters such as stocking shelves and grinding meat. The
cleaners and the wrappers must acquire, at a minimum,
basic knowledge of the various cuts of meat to be able to
identify and properly label the meats they wrap. Because
the meatcutters, wrapper, and cleaners have substantial

19 In Scolari’s, there were two transfers into the meat department in
the prior 4 years. 319 NLRB at 158. In Super K-Mart, three perish-
ables associates transferred into the department. 323 NLRB at 585.
20 The meatcutters in Scolari’s and Super K Mart were the highest
paid employees at the store. In Super K Mart, experienced meatcutters
earned more than some of the other departments’ managers.
common interests, the meatcutters alone are not a sepa-
rately appropriate departmental unit.
Accordingly, we affirm the Regional Director and find
that a separate unit of meatcutters is inappropriate.
B. Meat department unit
The Jerseyville meat department employees meet the
standards set forth in Scolari’s for finding a separate
meat department unit appropriate: a significant portion of
the department’s sales consist of boxed meat; the meat-
cutters perform functions, exercise skills, and utilize
equipment unique to the meat department; meatcutters
have substantial prior experience when hired;21 a sub-
stantial proportion of the department is engaged in
skilled work; the department is separately supervised;
there is little interchange, transfer, or interaction between
the meat department and the rest of the store; and the
meatcutters receive generally higher wages. In addition,
the meat department employees work in a separate and
distinct area of the grocery. We find that the meatcutters,
wrapper, and cleaners share a community of interest
separate from other employees sufficient to make the
meat department employees a readily identifiable and
homogenous grouping distinct from other employees.
Accordingly, we reverse the Regional Director and
find that a separate unit consisting of the Employer’s
meat department employees is appropriate.
ORDER
The petition is reinstated and the matter is remanded to
the Regional Director to conduct an election as hereinaf-
ter directed in the following appropriate unit:

All full-time and regular part-time employees em-
ployed by the Employer in the meat department at its
Jerseyville, Illinois store; excluding office clerical em-
ployees, professional employees, guards, and supervi-
sors as defined in the Act.
[Direction of Election omitted from publication.]

21 As noted earlier, although Employer claims that meatcutters re-
quire no training, no such training is necessary as Employer hires em-
ployees with substantial prior experience and expects meatcutters to
draw upon those skills.