GREELEY — Thousands of workers at the JBS meatpacking plant walked off the job Monday morning, beginning a two-week strike as they seek a new contract with higher pay and better workplace protections.
, the union representing 3,800 JBS workers in Greeley, has been negotiating for months with the company but has been unable to secure a deal. Union officials say JBS has refused to budge from minimal wage increases and committed unfair labor practices during negotiations.
JBS, in turn, has called the union’s contention that the company sought the labor dispute “frankly absurd,” saying the company made “meaningful movement” on economic and other issues throughout the process. The union, JBS officials said, abruptly walked away from the negotiating table without responding to their updated offer.
The strike marks the first walkout at an American meatpacking plant in four decades. The Greeley facility processes as much as 8% of the beef in the country, making it one of the largest plants in the U.S.
“JBS practiced intimidation and they push fear on every employee,” said Anthony Martinez, a UFCW Local 7 representative who was helping lead chants on the picket line Monday. “They threaten us with our jobs at all costs. No baño (bathroom) breaks, write-ups for being late, the misuse of knives. They buy us the less expensive knife and then complain about the performance. If we only have a certain amount of people, they don’t slow down the chain. Itap still the same and they still complain.”
Union officials say JBS has been offering less than 2% in annual wage increases and putting all the risk of rising health care costs on workers. Kim Cordova, the union’s president, said JBS refused to meet with workers over the weekend.
“Make no mistake, JBS chose this strike in an effort to lower worker wages nationwide, just as the company has squeezed entire communities of ranchers across this country,” Cordova said in a statement early Monday.
JBS officials, in a statement Monday, said many laborers chose to report for work rather than participate in the strike — and the company said it expects that number to increase in the coming days. The company denied any labor law violations and said its offer was fair.
“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,” JBS officials said.
Martinez acknowledged that some employees were still working Monday.
“We lost a percentage because some people are just not that educated on it just yet,” he said. “But soon, by later today and tomorrow, we’ll have that 99.9% out here striking.”
Chants and picket signs
Ninety-nine percent of unionized members in Greeley voted last month to authorize the strike. Workers told The Denver Post after the vote that they routinely get injured on the job and lack adequate medical treatment. Wages, meanwhile, have not kept up with rising costs, they say.
It’s the first strike at a U.S. slaughterhouse since workers walked out at a Hormel plant in Minnesota in 1985, Cordova said. That strike and included violent confrontations between police and protesters, according to the Minnesota Historical Society.
On Monday, hundreds of striking employees gathered outside the plant in Greeley before dawn, wearing signs around their necks — some in English, some in Spanish — that said, in part, “Please do not patronize JBS.” They chanted slogans including: “What do we want? Contract! When do we want it? Now!” and “Get up, get down. Greeley is a union town.”
Some yelled “huelga!” — Spanish for “strike.”
By early afternoon, more than 2,600 JBS workers showed up at the picket line and others were expected to check in over coming days, said Claire Poundstone, an attorney for the UFCW Local 7.
“I’ve seen every single shift out here,” said Garret Rhodes, who has worked at JBS for two-and-a-half years. “A shift, B shift, C shift. Itap crazy. This is close to, if not, every single department.”
Workers lined the streets surrounding the JBS plant, holding signs and chatting with their coworkers in dozens of different languages. JBS has long relied on — and recruited — immigrants and refugees who left war-torn countries seeking a better life in the United States. For many, the vote to strike represented their first-ever act of democracy.
Fernando Pitone, who has worked at the plant since June, said he was acting in solidarity with all of his co-workers.
“We’re out here standing for what we believe is being neglected,” Pitone said.
Dani Martinez, who has worked for JBS on and off for four years, said she felt compelled to buy a knife sharpener out of her own pocket because the company wouldn’t get one for her. The production line runs so fast, she said, that workers are forced to choose between keeping up and risking contaminating the beef, or slowing down and risking admonishment from supervisors.
“Either way, you get written up,” she said. “You just can’t win.”
JBS officials have said they plan to shift production to facilities in other states with more capacity while the Greeley workers strike. Experts say they don’t expect major increases in beef prices at the grocery store, but that JBS will likely want a resolution to the stoppage sooner rather than later.
Support for the strikers
The strike drew supporters who backed the union’s push for a new contract. Greeley city councilmembers, congressional candidates and the state’s attorney general, Phil Weiser, all made appearances at the picket line. Other Colorado Democrats, such as Sen. John Hickenlooper, expressed their public support for the workers.
“I’m glad that folks are unified on this front to make sure that they get the wages they deserve,” said State Rep. Manny Rutinel, a Commerce City Democrat running to unseat U.S. Rep. Gabe Evans in the 8th Congressional District, which includes Greeley. “These are the folks that put food on the table for folks across not just Greeley and Colorado, but the entire nation. And they deserve to have the working conditions that allow them to come back home safely.”
Weiser, who’s also running for governor, said it’s important to stand up for those who risked their health during the pandemic to make sure Americans had food in the grocery stores.
“The company needs to step up with a fair offer,” he said.
Complaints about poor working conditions
Workers for years have complained about poor working conditions at the Greeley plant.
The U.S. Department of Labor last year found JBS to work in its slaughterhouses.
Children as young as 13 were hired through an outside sanitation company and worked overnight cleaning shifts at slaughterhouses in Colorado, Iowa, Minnesota and Nebraska, federal investigators found. Their jobs included cleaning dangerous powered equipment, labor officials said.
The company to assist individuals and communities affected by unlawful child labor practices.
In 2024, UFCW Local 7 called for federal, state and local law enforcement and regulatory bodies to hold the company accountable for substandard labor practices.
The union accused the company of human trafficking via social media; charging workers to live in squalid conditions; threatening and intimidating workers and their families; operating with dangerously high production line speeds; and withholding mail from workers.
Three Haitian workers in December sued JBS in federal court, alleging their experience in Colorado has been marked by injuries, discrimination and inhospitable living conditions.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
