About 200 workers at a Denver meat processing plant voted to authorize a strike Saturday, according the workers’ union.
The workers, who are members of the union, have been negotiating for a new union contract with plant owner JBS USA since early September and voted unanimously Saturday to authorize a strike over what they say are unfair labor practices, according to a union news release.
Denver Processing is a meat packing plant on Yuma Street in the city’s Valverde neighborhood. Workers process beef and pork that goes to “major grocers throughout the state,” according to the union.
Local union President Kim Cordova did not immediately return a request for comment Sunday and it was unclear when the authorized strike might start. In a statement, Cordova accused Denver Processing of “unilaterally changing workplace policies that have not been bargained on.”
“Management at the Denver Processing plant and its JBS leadership need to stop unfair labor practices and come to the table with proposals for an industry-leading agreement that honors these workers,” she said in the statement. “If they fail to do so, workers have told us loud and clear, they are prepared to walk out.”
A spokesman for JBS did not immediately return a request for comment Sunday.
