Teamsters local unions including one in Urbandale hit Pepsi with unfair labor practices charge
Teamsters local unions in Iowa, Illinois and Indiana have filed unfair labor practice charges against PepsiCowith the U.S. National Labor Relations Board, the union says.
Five Teamsters local unions, including Local 90 at PepsiCo's Urbandale bottling plant, filed the charges Friday over company work rules the union says prohibit workers from discussing wages, hours, or other terms or conditions of employment. It also says the rules prevent or discourage workers from forming, joining, or supporting a labor organization, contacting or filing charges with the NLRB, and engaging in protected activities.
PepsiCo did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Two locals in Illinois and one in Indiana currently are negotiating new contracts. Local 90 reached an agreement in October with wage and pension increases and a cap on mandatory overtime for 220 production, warehousing and transport workers.
Teamsters leaders said in a news release that PepsiCo could face a strike if it doesn't relent on the work rules.
“Teamsters are putting Pepsi on notice that we won’t tolerate union busting. We will take coordinated action against the company until it gets serious in negotiations,” Jeff Padellaro, director of the Teamsters Brewery, Bakery, and Soft Drink Conference, said in a statement.
Unions have seen a resurgence after a decades-long decline and some have won significant new contracts. In particular, the United Auto Workers in 2021 won a new contract with Deere & Co. with wage and benefits increases following a five-week strike at plants including Ankeny, Davenport, Dubuque, Ottumwa and Waterloo in Iowa. Last November after another strike, UAW members ratified a new contract with Ford, GM and Stellantis that included historic rollbacks of cuts they had agreed to during the Great Recession.
On Friday, the UAW scored another victory in a long-sought vote by workers at Volkswagen's Chattanooga, Tennessee, plant to organize. Another organizing vote is slated in May for Mercedes' Tuscaloosa, Alabama, plant.
Labor groups also have been an important talking point amid the ongoing 2024 U.S. presidential campaign. Teamsters leaders met with President Joe Biden last month, weeks after his Republican rival Donald Trump met with union officials to seek their endorsement. The UAW endorsed Biden's reelection in January.
Reuters contributed to this article.
This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: Urbandale Teamsters join others in complaint PepsiCo labor complaint
