Hundreds of Kansas Frito-Lay Employees On Strike Over Working Conditions

July 12, 2021

Between 500-600 workers from the Topeka, Kansas Frito-Lay plant are on strike and seeking a better union contract reports say.

Nearly 600 employees at a Frito-Lay plant in Topeka, Kansas have been on strike for week. The strike comes after members of the Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco Workers, and Grain Millers (BCTGM) Local 218 voted against a tentative agreement with Frito Lay in early July.

The Topeka Capital-Journal reported that the the main points of contention are small pay increases and employees being forced to work hours of overtime.

“There is a lot of people with a lot of resentment against the company for the last ten years,” Brent Hall, President of BCTGM Local 218 told local NBC affiliate KSNT.

"That the union membership rejected this fully recommended agreement suggests union leadership is out of touch with the sentiments of Frito-Lay employees," PepsiCo said in a statement to the Topeka Capital-Journal. "Because the union had fully recommended our tentative agreement, we do not anticipate any further negotiations with the union for the foreseeable future."