Frito-Lay had workers move the dead body of a coworker and keep working, claims striking employee

[douglas9]

When I first met with the workers striking at the Frito-Lay Topeka, Kansas production facility, I was told that it was hard for them to even explain how bad the situation was for employees. They had gone without any real increase in pay, and the work shifts of over 80 hours per week were tearing them apart. Speaking to Mark McCarter, a union steward at Frito-Lay, I was informed that even someone with a long history at the company could not count on the company rewarding his years of service. With his wife passing away, he informed the company that he just couldn’t work the same 12-hour-a-day shifts. He was told to just file an FMLA. Seven years later, nothing has changed and he is still assigned the same hours.

In an editorial within the Topeka Capital-Journal, the agony of the workers at Frito-Lay reminds us of exactly how important unions are to the safety and protection of American workers.


https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2041297

[multigraincracker]

1. Anyone that has worked in a factory knows

they want that line moving. Screw the workers health. OSHA and the Union are the only life line.

[2naSalit]

3. Also...

Keep them too busy and tired to think for themselves and or do something to change their conditions.
That is one of the reasons why low wage jobs are now going unfilled, people had time during the lock down to think about changes they needed to make in their lives. Many found ways to find better jobs with better pay and so we see the exact result today in workers not taking crappy jobs.

[Warpy]

15. These workers didn't get to enjoy a lockdown

People who did were eating munchies at a very fast rate, which is why they were working 12 hour shifts 7 days a week. Frito Lay was too fucking cheap to hire additional workers.

I hope this strike puts some heavy screws to the bosses who did this to them and I hope it spreads.

[2naSalit]

16. I didn't mention...

That I understand that. Which is why the strike for the most part. I agree with these workers, have done my fair share of production line work, and I hope they win their case. Corporations and conglomerates need to be transformed into something else.

[Warpy]

17. In addition, worker protections need to be enforced

and I mean heavily enforced, forcing these assholes to hire more people when production needs to pick up to this extent.

It's not just line work, health care workers also have forced overtime.

[2naSalit]

18. I agree.

[AZSkiffyGeek]

9. Apparently OSHA and the Union aren't helping in this situation

The workers are unionized. Yet they're still being exploited with 7-day, 12-hour shifts. The article I read said they had pensions, but hadn't received raises in 10 years.
I'm honestly almost as appalled at the terrible job the union is doing to protect them, as I am at Frito-Lay for exploitiong them. I understand why they're going on strike, but I hope they're actually able to get improvements to their conditions.

[blueinredohio]

2. I had a supervisor who told us

"If someone dies move them out of the way but DO NOT SHUT THAT LINE OFF. That's management but luckily we had a decent union. UAW.

[multigraincracker]

4. Same thing happened in our plant.

I also remember when the quality coming out of Japan was killing our sales. They brought a quality expert from Japan and installed two lights on every job. The first one, a yellow light was to get help if there was a problem. The second one was a red light that stopped the line rather than let a defect go by. A day or two later, it happened. Someone pull the red cord and stopped the line. He was lucky he only got three days off without pay.

[IronLionZion]

7. The Japanese plan is to fix problems in the process

so there would be fewer defects rolling through. It's a good thing.

[multigraincracker]

10. For US companies it was only

for marketing. Advertise this great new way of producing quality product. Then toss it out and crank up the line.

[Snackshack]

5. Without the work...

Last edited Fri Jul 23, 2021, 03:38 PM - Edit history (1)

Unions did throughout the 20th century the American worker would have very little benefits if any today. Overtime, paid vacation, minimum safety standards, medical leave, holidays….the list goes on and on. Working conditions would still be like that at the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory and tragedies like that would be a regular occurrence.

[Prof. Toru Tanaka]

6. As a union worker, I am well aware of this and grateful for their protections.

My dues are about one hour's pay every two weeks. Money well spent, I say.

One story I learned about when joining my union was the tragedy of the 146 victims of the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory who died either from the fire or by jumping to their deaths trying to escape the blaze.

[Snackshack]

19. It was a terrible tragedy.

I did an essay on it back in High School. This was back during the Reagan years right around the time he busted up the Air Traffic Controllers union. My step father was a crane operator in a union and made a comment about the tragedy. After he said that I wondered what it was about and went to the library the next chance I got and read up on it. I have never forgot what I read that day about what those women went thru, it’s heartbreaking.

[Prof. Toru Tanaka]

20. Hopefully, you got an "A" on the project.

I, too was horrified to read about what happened. Having to make the choice of a quick death by jumping out a window versus dying in a fire....a terrible choice to make. I believe the victims were mostly young immigrant women- people who came here in hopes of a better life. Unfortunately for them, exploitation existed here in the United States as well.

[hollygolively]

8. The pendulum is starting to swing back. I hope.

Since Reagan, things have gotten worse and worse. Union busting and preventing unions from forming has been the norm.

I think people are finally beginning to get sick of it. When you see Bezos spends billions to fly into space rather than pay decent wages/benefits, it really shows just how messed up things are.

[Crowman2009]

12. It's as if we're living in a high tech guilded age.

With rich people showing off their expensive shit while people suffer.

[Prof. Toru Tanaka]

21. In the Gilded Age, the uber rich built "cottages" in places like Newport, R.I.

These "cottages" were extravagant mansions they used for the summer season, which was only 2 or 3 months at most.

[kimbutgar]

11. I watched this show on the History channel and they featured the Frito lay factory

I don’t think I’ll ever eat a frito lay product ever again.

[Farther]

13. I hope my union brothers and sisters

stay strong. Their union has had a hard go fighting both management and a corporate friendly court system when they fought Hostess.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bakery,_Confectionery,_Tobacco_Workers_and_Grain_Millers%27_International_Union

They have been busy undermining unions since Reagan, well, since forever. The struggle continues.

[Prof. Toru Tanaka]

22. "The Struggle Continues"

I always think of longtime APWU President Moe Biller when I hear that.

[seta1950]

14. This is

What the gop wants for all workers, to be slaves of corporations