Plant workers walked out of a JBS packing facility in Greeley, Colorado, on Monday, March 16, putting a major dent in beef production at a time of high demand and high prices.
The strike, authorized by a nearly unanimous vote from the meatpacker’s union, United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) Local 7, almost a month ago, follows almost eight months of negotiations between the union and company officials over labor practices and wages, and is claimed to be the first strike by meatpacking workers in 40 years. “This is an historic moment in time to see workers come out like this,” Kim Cordova, president of UFCW Local 7, told reporters [that] morning. “It’s a real showing of worker power.”
Roughly 3,800 workers at Swift Beef Co., the JBS-owned facility, are participating in the strike which will, according to union officials, continue for two weeks or until the company is ready to offer better terms to the workers. According to an Associated Press report, the union is claiming the company offered a less than 2% raise in yearly wages, which is less than the increase of inflation in Colorado. Also, along with unsafe and unfair labor practices, they claim that JBS has charged workers $1,100 or more to offset the cost of providing the personal protective equipment required to meet worker safety requirements.
The Greeley plant has a 6,000-head-per-day capacity, which equals 5% to 6% of U.S. beef processing capacity. JBS representative Nikki Richardson told reporters “many team members” showed up for work, but did not offer a specific number and said the overflow of production would be shipped off to other JBS facilities as needed. JBS also claims they have strictly complied with federal and state labor laws and their offer during negotiations.
The written statement release by JBS says, "We stand by the offer we presented. It is strong, fair and consistent with the historic national contract reached in 2025 in partnership with UFCW International ... an agreement that has already delivered higher wages, a secure pension and long-term financial stability for team members at our other major facilities. UFCW Local 7 has refused to let team members vote on this offer."
“Our team members want stability, they want to support their families, and they deserved the opportunity to vote on the company’s historic offer – an opportunity the union leadership has denied them,” Richardson wrote in an email.
However, Cordova told reporters JBS’ proposal offered to increases wages 60 cents per hour the first year, then 30 cents annually for the next two years, similar to the national agreement reached in 2025, but it does not account for Colorado’s higher cost of living which, historically high, has soared due to inflation. “JBS is trying to force us to take the national agreement,” she said. “But the health care costs increased 22 cents an hour (so) those folks got an 8-cent increase. That’s not gonna work for us.”
Cordova added, “We’ve said we don’t want to bargain against ourselves. Our goal here is to reach an agreement. So unless they want this kind of disruption for our economy here in Colorado, they should.”
