PepsiCo ending production operations at Ohio facility, 136 workers to be laid off

CINCINNATI (WXIX/Gray News) - PepsiCo announced it will be ending its production operations at an Ohio facility shortly after Christmas.

Effective Dec. 28, the Pepsi plant on Sunnybrook Drive in Cincinnati will discontinue production operations, according to a Workers Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act (WARN) from PepsiCo.

The WARN notice said 136 employees will lose their jobs shortly before the new year.

“We are providing information to affected employees about other job openings and actively working to place them at nearby facilities,” PepsiCo wrote in the WARN notice. ”All affected employees will be paid wages and benefits through their last day of employment with PepsiCo, Inc. Any retirement and group insurance benefits to which employees are entitled will be provided in accordance with the terms of the applicable employee benefit plans."

PepsiCo’s notice said all impacted employees were notified on Oct. 28.

After 33 years at PepsiCo, Anne was just six months away from retirement when she and others got the news.

Anne said she asked PepsiCo officials about pensions, but claims they told her she would have to talk with her union about that.

“It’s very shocking and numbing when it happens,” Anne admits. “I tried to ask. I wanted to know about our pensions and the money that’s owed to us and our vacations and stuff and they said, ‘You’ll have to talk to your union because that’ll all have to be negotiated.’ It’s been negotiated, it’s already in the contracts.”

While production operations are ending at the facility, PepsiCo said they will continue “operating a scaled warehouse” there.

“We are optimizing our manufacturing network, and as a result, we have stopped production at our Cincinnati facility,” the PepsiCo statement reads. “We will continue operating a scaled warehouse at this location. Supporting our employees during this transition remains our top priority, and we are committed to continuing to serve the Cincinnati community.”