Frito-Lay workers end 19-day strike in Kansas with contract that guarantees one day off per week

Hundreds of Frito-Lay employees are returning to work in Kansas, ending a 19-day strike with the weekend ratification of a two-year contract that guarantees them at least one day off each week and raises wages.

Workers at the Topeka plant had called on the snack-food giant to end forced overtime and 84hour workweeks, saying they had been pushed to the brink as the factory revved up operations during the pandemic, according to the Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco Workers and Grain Millers International Union Local 218. Many staffers worked as much as 12-hour shifts with as little as eight hours in between, according to a statement that the union’s international president, Anthony Shelton, issued this month.

“They are forcing the current workforce to work double and triple shifts,” Shelton said. “Workers do not have enough time to see their family, do chores around the house, run errands, or even get a healthy night’s sleep.”

The company had called the union’s claims “grossly exaggerated.”

Frito-Lay said the union accepted a contract that addressed some of its concerns, according to a statement released Saturday. In addition to the day-off guarantee, the deal will give the union more input on staffing and overtime decisions and raise wages 4% over two years.

“We believe our approach to resolving this strikes demonstrates how we listen to our employees, and when concerns are raised, they are taken seriously and addressed,” according to the statement.

About two-thirds of the 850 workers at the Topeka factory joined the walkout that began July 5 and ended July 23. They will return to work this week.

Frito-Lay — the maker of Cheetos, Doritos, Ruffles and other packaged foods — is a unit of PepsiCo.