Union Plans Strike at US Beef Plant

About 3,800 union meatpacking workers at the JBS plant in Greeley, Colorado, are planning to strike starting March 16, threatening to kneecap production at one of the nation’s largest beef plants.

The United Food and Commercial Workers International Union (UFCW Local 7) from the Swift Beef plant met with company representatives dozens of times but said that JBS was not able to meet workers’ demands for life-saving safety equipment, wage increases, or affordable health care costs.

About 99 percent of union members authorized the strike, according to UFCW.

JBS USA did not return a request for comment about the negotiations or the impending strike by publication time.

The plant in Greeley is one of the company’s nine beef facilities in the United States that contribute to processing about 61 million 4-ounce servings each day, according to JBS USA. The company pays about $3.1 billion each year for livestock to be processed at the Greeley plant, which had been expected to undergo a $50 million expansion.

The union accused the company of threatening to withhold a proposed bonus and lump-sum pension payment if workers walked out on their jobs Monday.

“JBS workers absolutely deserve wage increases that keep pace with inflation, that support their health, that protect their retirement, and that allow the workers to work with dignity and respect,” UFCW Local 7 said in a statement March 9.

Workers say the company charges many employees $1,100 or more to offset its expenses for life-saving equipment needed for worker safety on the job, and has only proposed a 2 percent wage increase per year, which the union says is not enough to cover rising health insurance costs.

“The goal of negotiations is never to go on strike but when the Company violates workers’ rights and ignores workers’ concerns about safety and health, the Company gives workers no choice but to stand together in solidarity and show the Company that they cannot be silenced,” said Kim Cordova, the union’s president.

Greeley City Council members Tommy Butler and Deborah DeBoutez sent a letter to plant management asking them to bargain in good faith with union employees and urged the company to resolve the issue.

“We stand in solidarity with the workers of UFCW local 7 at the JBS facility here in Greeley,” the council members stated. “You have the ability to resolve this dispute quickly. … Negotiate a fair contract. Workers, their families, and our local and state economies cannot afford for you to wait.”

A strike at the Greeley beef plant could cripple production at a time when food prices remain high.

The consumer price index for food rose 0.4 percent in February, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Over the last 12 months, all items jumped about 2.4 percent.