On a normal day, more than 2,000 workers in this rural northeast Colorado city fill assembly lines as they carve up cattle bound for butchers and supermarkets across the United States.

But on Wednesday, these laborers — many of whom are immigrants or refugees — instead lined Main Street, holding signs that read: “The steaks are high.”

The economic engine of Fort Morgan — a beef processing plant that employs more than 20% of the town’s population — has remained largely dark since Cargill halted production in April, then locked out its unionized workforce in May amid contentious contract negotiations.

The union, , says Cargill refuses to budge on minimal wage increases, even as the company reports staggering profits. Company representatives, meanwhile, contend that their proposal offers substantial benefits for its workers.

A lockout is an effort by bosses to block employees from working in the midst of a labor dispute. Once a rare phenomenon compared to a strike, lockouts have become a more common tool used by employers to gain leverage during negotiations.

Still, experts say, they remain exceedingly uncommon in the beef industry.

The impasse has left Cargill’s workers with no idea when — or if — they’ll be able to return to work. Fort Morgan officials, for their part, have already implemented budget cuts and frozen hiring as they brace for even steeper revenue declines, potential layoffs and a deeper existential question.

What happens to a factory town if the factory goes away?

“This is the type of thing that could be a generational event,” said last week. “These are things that stick with a community for a long time.”

Cargill representatives declined an interview request for this story, and instead directed The Denver Post to a company dedicated to the Fort Morgan negotiations.

“This was not a decision we made lightly,” the company wrote of the lockout. “Cargill remains committed to reaching an agreement through continued good-faith negotiations with the union.”

How the lockout began

Fort Morgan is an agricultural community of 11,000, about 80 miles northeast of Denver.

It’s a diverse and largely poor population, where more than half of its residents identify as Hispanic and the .

Cargill, for many in northeast Colorado, represents the best option for making a decent living.

The company, headquartered in Minnesota, is the , employing more than 155,000 people across 70 countries. Its annual revenue:

Cargill, on its , acknowledges the “vital role” the company plays in supporting the local economy, saying it “strives to be the employer of choice” in northeastern Colorado.

The facility’s massive 85-acre complex — including a dozen buildings and 630,000 square feet of production space — sits on the outskirts of town east of Main Street. The plant dates back to 1966 and was acquired by Cargill in 1987.

The current stalemate traces back to February, when the union and the company began negotiating a new contract.

The parties traded proposals, with Cargill offering an estimated $33.4 million investment in Fort Morgan employees. Year one wages, under the company’s proposal, would range from $24.20 to $32.10 per hour, depending on the job and experience. Union officials, though, said this would only equate to a $2.15-per-hour increase over five years.

Cargill also touted significant jumps since 2018 to its base pay, average wages and annual payroll.

In April, amid the heated negotiations, the company stopped bringing cattle to the facility, though workers continued to receive their pay. The following month, 90% of union workers rejected Cargill’s deal, citing inadequate wage increases and other health and safety concerns. The union, however, never held a strike vote.

On May 20, Cargill locked the plant’s doors, saying the company “cannot operate the facility safely and responsibly amid continued uncertainty of a potential work stoppage.” A sudden shutdown, , could create risks related to food safety, animal welfare and extensive food waste.

“Our goal remains to reach an agreement that allows the facility to return to normal operations safely and productively as soon as possible,” Cargill officials said.

The Teamsters say the speed at which Cargill barricaded the factory showed that they had “full intention to lock us out.”

There have been no conversations of substance since, said Chris Suazo, a Local 455 business agent, though the two sides did meet on June 30.

Cargill said it would support a meeting with a mediator, while Suazo said the union remains open to negotiating. Still, the sides remain far apart.

Lockouts, once unheard of, have in recent years represented a significant portion of work stoppages as federal courts and the National Labor Relations Board have expanded their permissible use, said Moshe Marvit, an attorney and former National Labor Relations Board employee.

“At a time when the most well-known tools of labor organizing have already been undermined by aggressive — and too frequently unlawful — anti-union tactics by employers, this enhancement of management power is designed to weaken the bargaining power of unions, and lead to a further decline in the earnings and benefits available to hard-working families,” he said.

The dispute comes amid tumultuous times for beef producers nationwide.

The U.S. cattle herd is at a , driving up beef prices. Cargill has said it is currently losing hundreds of millions of dollars in its beef operations.

The Fort Morgan lockout came just two months after thousands of workers at a JBS meatpacking plant in Greeley went on strike over wage disputes and unsafe working conditions. The two sides reached an agreement three weeks later.

Industry watchers say production interruptions, such as the one in Fort Morgan, are unlikely to drastically impact the U.S. beef market since facilities nationwide are already running well below capacity. That means Cargill can easily transfer cattle destined for Colorado to other plants.

“Things like this can cause regional issues, such as producers seeing increased costs and headaches, but for the industry as a whole, it’s not an end-of-the-world scenario,” said Jaime Luke, an assistant professor at Michigan State University’s Department of Agricultural, Food and Resource Economics.

In fact, Cargill’s operational costs actually go down when the company can run its plants at closer to capacity, said Jennifer Martin, an associate professor in the College of Agricultural Sciences at Colorado State University.

Workers left in limbo

Cargill workers have been left in an uneasy limbo since the lockout.

They’re still getting paid $1,250 per week from the union’s “out of work” benefit fund, though it’s not clear how long that will last.

Instead of handling cow carcasses all day, they’re picketing along Main Street and outside the plant. On Wednesday, laborers chatted in small groups, looked at their phones and milled around a downtown park.

“The company has a real next-man-up mentality,” said Michael Torres, a supervisor at the plant. “There’s a real lack of empathy for the workers.”

Even though they’re still getting paid, Torres worries about not having health insurance, which stopped June 1.

Next to him, Robert Gasca pondered his future.

He’s been with Cargill for 17 years, taking an hour-long shuttle ride every day from Greeley.

Gasca’s mother died when he was young, leading the teen to drop out of high school. He earned enough at Cargill to allow his sister to graduate — an accomplishment he considers his proudest moment.

But the job has come with a cost. Gasca showed disfigurements on his hands from operating a meat hook all day and recalled once when a knife sliced through his leg “like butter.” It’s a physically demanding, intense gig, with few breaks.

“Religiously, God told me to leave this place years ago,” he said.

Local businesses in town expressed their support for the union members, with some putting signs in the windows that proclaimed they “stand with Cargill Teamsters.”

A few business owners said sales have dropped since the lockout, while others lamented the lack of parking when workers picket downtown.

“At first, we were worried about the unknown,” said Kim Filener, who works at a women’s clothing store in town. “But everyone has been respectful and things have been pretty calm. We know Cargill is big for this town and we support our workers.”

At the end of the day, townspeople said, they just want a resolution to end the stalemate.

‘Plan for the worst’

As workers mull their fate, the city of Fort Morgan does the same.

Not only does Cargill employ a significant percentage of the population, but the company also represents the city’s largest water and electricity customer. Since the lockout, utility usage from the plant has plummeted, said Nation, the city manager.

Sales tax receipts have remained stable so far, since workers are still getting paid, but officials are worried about a hit there, too, if laborers stop getting paychecks.

Nation earlier this month, saying all municipal departments needed to cut 5% from their current budgets and institute an immediate hiring freeze.

The 2027 prognosis is even worse. If Cargill doesn’t come back online, the city would lose $15 million of its $100 million annual budget, Nation said. As a result, all departments next year face 15% cuts, which would likely result in layoffs.

“We need to plan for the worst in this case,” he said.

The city manager has been in close touch with officials in Lexington, Nebraska, which plant that employed 30% of its total workforce. In that case, the move resulted in the loss of 7,000 jobs, $3.3 billion in statewide economic impact and $2.7 million in lost sales tax revenue for the county.

Nation thinks about his father, who worked in the oil business. The family talked for decades about the oil bust in the 1980s and the economic devastation that it caused Colorado. If Cargill doesn’t reopen its Fort Morgan plant, he said, it would cause similar ripples through the community.

“Looking at the dollars and cents, the trickle-down effect is scary,” he said. “But these are the cards we’ve been dealt.”

The United Food and Commercial Workers Local 7 said 97% of the union members voted Friday to authorize a strike in response to what union officials said is the company’s “ongoing illegal conduct at and away from the bargaining table.”

Workers at the plant in Denver process meat products for Kroger stores throughout the Southwest, including King Soopers and City Market stores in Colorado, Fry’s Food and Drug Stores in Arizona, and Ralphs Grocery Company in California.

The timing of any strike will be determined at a later date.

Members of UFCW Local 7 reached a tentative contract agreement with JBS at its flagship beef processing plant in Greeley in mid-April following a three-week strike over pay and working conditions.

JBS spokeswoman Nikki Richardson said in an email the company is disappointed that UFCW Local 7 “has chosen to pursue another strike rather than continue productive discussions at the bargaining table.”

If a strike is called, Richardson said it would be the fifth initiated by the same union in just four years across multiple employers. Richardson said the company has negotiated in good faith and made proposals that include meaningful wage increases and a one-time bonus.

The union, which represents 23,000 members in Colorado and Wyoming, approved a three-year contract with King Soopers in 2025 after a 12-day strike at stores in metro Denver.

Kim Cordova, UCFW Local 7 president, said the union represents about 300 members at Denver Processing. Negotiations on a new contract began in December.

Union officials said they have filed multiple unfair labor practices against Denver Processing stemming from two categories of illegal conduct. The union accuses the company of engaging in interference and retaliation by disciplining a bargaining committee member for attending bargaining sessions, protected activity under federal law.

The union has also accused Denver Processing of bad-faith bargaining by repeatedly stalling negotiations, failing to respond to the union’s proposals on key safety and work-life balance issues and declaring a final offer before meaningful bargaining could occur.

“We came to the table ready to negotiate a fair contract. Instead, Denver Processing wasted our time, retaliated against our committee members, and refused to seriously engage with our proposals on safety and scheduling,” Natalia Gonzalez, a Denver Processing worker and UFCW Local 7 member, said in a statement.

The Greeley beef processing plant, the flagship of JBS USA, will resume normal operations under a new contract that runs through April 2028 and includes raises, according to a news release from the company.

Contract negotiations resumed last week after a three-week strike at the Greeley plant. United Food and Commercial Workers Local 7 officials announced Friday that a tentative deal had been struck between the union and JBS USA.

The new contract includes a 70-cent-per-hour base wage increase upon ratification, and 40-cent-per-hour raises in July 2026 and 2027, according to the news release from JBS USA. It also includes a $750 bonus for each employee at ratification and a one-time payment of $500 in April 2027, but it eliminates the company’s “historic pension,” JBS officials said.

“While JBS USA is pleased that an agreement has finally been reached, the company expressed disappointment that UFCW Local 7 leadership chose to eliminate the historic pension benefit that was part of the national agreement negotiated last year in partnership with UFCW International,” JBS officials stated in the release.

But said that the pension was never part of the contract and that JBS officials only offered the national agreement pension as a counter to the union’s own proposal.

“Frankly, their proposal was just not adequate, and no way, no how were we going to sacrifice the rest of the issues on the table to get it,” Cordova said.

The pension plan would have come at the cost of lower wage increases and shifting the cost of healthcare onto workers, Cordova said. It also capped employees’ contributions at 40 hours a week, despite many at the meatpacking plant working far more, she said.

The company trying to force the national agreement onto the Greeley plant is one of the reasons that workers went on strike, she added.

JBS previously charged workers or garnished wages to replace broken or defective personal protective equipment, Cordova said. Now, corporate officials have agreed to replace that equipment for free and to reimburse workers who had to pay, she said.

“When we went back to work, there were lines wrapped around the building of workers who had to have their equipment replaced,” Cordova said.

Other contract wins include more sick time, longer bereavement leave, a capped healthcare contribution for employees and a shorter contract to get back to the bargaining table sooner, she said. The agreement also stipulates that none of the workers will be retaliated against or disciplined for striking.

Ninety-nine percent of unionized workers at the northern Colorado location voted to authorize the strike in February, the first in the Greeley plant’s history and the first strike at an American meatpacking plant in four decades, according to local union leadership. The walkout came as contract negotiations stalled after eight months of meetings between the union, which represents 3,800 workers at the plant, and JBS.

The union filed at least seven unfair labor practice charges against JBS, including for firing a member of the bargaining committee, punishing a worker for filing a grievance against management and making changes to working conditions without giving the union notice. JBS denied those claims and said Sunday that the union agreed to withdraw the allegations to solidify the contract agreement.

Two unfair labor practice charges remain active, Cordova said. All the charges related to interfering with bargaining were withdrawn because the union reached an agreement with JBS, she said.

Cordova said the two still in place are related to alleged incidents where JBS gave non-union supervisors retroactive pay for the collective bargaining period and the firing of a bargaining unit member who raised concerns about faulty protective equipment.

“As soon as he raised that with corporate in negotiations, he was terminated,” Cordova said.

Greeley-based JBS USA is a subsidiary of Brazil-based JBS S.A., the world’s largest processor of beef and pork. The company operates nine U.S. facilities and employs more than 37,000 people at these plants, including the nearly 4,000 workers at the Greeley location.

The flagship Greeley plant, which operates as Swift Beef Co., processes as much as 8% of the country’s beef.

“The strike worked,” Cordova said. “Had we not struck, they never would have replaced that unsafe equipment … for these workers, it was a life or death situation.”

United Food and Commercial Workers Local 7 officials announced the tentative agreement on Friday following two days of negotiations that resumed after a three-week strike at the flagship beef processing plant in Greeley.

The union represents 3,800 workers at the plant, who union officials say face unsafe working conditions and inadequate pay.

Thousands of workers walked off the job March 16, after union officials said JBS refused to increase minimum wages and committed unfair labor practices during negotiations — claims the company denies.

UFCW leaders did not detail the terms of the tentative agreement and did not respond to a request for comment. The agreement will be presented to members for a vote Sunday, the union said in a statement.

“I can confirm we have reached a tentative agreement that����ap subject to ratification, and I will share additional details when we are able to,” JBS spokesperson Nikki Richardson said in an email to The Denver Post on Sunday.

The strike was the first at an American meatpacking plant in four decades and the first walkout at the Greeley facility, which is also the city’s top employer. JBS is the world’s largest meatpacking company and has an estimated value of $17 billion.

The Greeley plant, which operates as Swift Beef Co., processes as much as 8% of the country’s beef.

The on Tuesday sued the and its in Weld County District Court for taking too long to process the plant’s application, which should have been finalized in October 2023. The division is supposed to finalize air permits within 18 months of receiving an application.

This lawsuit claims the JBS-owned Swift Beef Co.’s Greeley Integrated Rendering Plant was late to file its application for a renewed permit for the meatpacking plant and is not eligible under federal law to continue operating under its old permit.

That would mean the Greeley plant has operated without a Title V permit since Jan. 27, 2021, the lawsuit stated. But the state is allowing the plant to continue to operate and to spill pollutants into the air.

JBS is not named as a defendant in the lawsuit.

Jeremy Nichols, a senior advocate with the Center for Biological Diversity, a nonprofit conservation group, said his organization filed the lawsuit to urge the state health department to do its job and to send a message to JBS that it should not be allowed to operate above the law.

“The state knows they’re operating out of compliance,” Nichols said. “They’re just choosing not to do anything about it. That’s a concerning message for air quality regulators to send to polluters.”

Zachary Aedo, an Air Pollution Control Division spokesman, said department officials would not comment on the lawsuit.

In an email, JBS spokeswoman Nikki Richardson said the company was committed to compliance with all air quality regulations. She acknowledge the permit application was late but did not offer an explanation as to why.

“Since then, we have worked collaboratively and in good faith with CDPHE and believe we are meeting all current expectations,” Richardson said. “We remain committed to providing any additional information needed to support their review and determination.”

The center argues that lagging air-permit approvals harm the environment and public health by allowing companies to operate under outdated permits, which potentially allows them to pollute more than an updated permit with tighter controls would authorize.

“The state just seems to be, well, whatever, we’ll get to your permit at some point,” Nichols said. “It’s concerning to us that there don’t seem to be consequences for not being timely.”

The Swift plant’s renewal application was due Jan. 27, 2021, but the company did not file it until April 20, 2022. Under the Clean Air Act, which dictates timelines for the Title V air permit renewals, the state health department should have completed it by October 2023. That makes the permit at least two-and-a-half years overdue.

Companies that emit more than 100 tons of any pollutant in one year must apply for Title V permits. Those permits dictate how much of any pollutant the companies are allowed to release. The permits are written by state agencies and sent to the Environmental Protection Agency for approval.

The Greeley meatpacking plant releases particulate matter, which are fine particles that can be inhaled, and in the past has exceeded state limits on how much dried blood it can emit, the lawsuit stated. The plant also emits nitrogen oxides, volatile organic compounds, carbon monoxide, ammonia and other hazardous pollutants.

All of those pollutants can make people sick if they are exposed to them at high levels or over long periods of time.

Volatile organic compounds and carbon monoxide are the key ingredients in ground-level ozone pollution, which combine on hot days to create a smog that fouls the air. Controlling those chemicals is important because the Front Range, including Weld County, violates federal air quality standards for ozone pollution.

“Air pollution from the Greeley Integrated Rendering Plant also harms Plaintiff’s members’ interests in using and enjoying the natural environment. Ground-level ozone, which the air pollution emitted by the facility causes, harms human health, and damages plant and animal life and natural ecosystems, thus harming Plaintiff’s members’ recreational and aesthetic interests in the areas at issue in this Complaint,” the lawsuit states.

Tuesday’s lawsuit is similar to two others that the Center for Biological Diversity has filed since September against the Department of Public Health and Environment and its Air Pollution Control Division for delayed permit approvals.

The center sued the state over permit delays in September for two oil and gas facilities in Adams County and, in December, over the permit for Cargill Meat Solutions in Fort Morgan. Those permits were issued after the lawsuit was filed, Nichols said.

The two oil and gas permits are finalized. The Colorado Air Quality Control Commission is hosting an on at 6 p.m., April 28. To register, visit .

Thousands of workers walked off the job on March 16 after months of negotiations with the company failed to deliver what they deemed a fair contract.

The union representing 3,800 workers at the flagship JBS plant, United Food and Commercial Workers Local 7, said the company was only offering raises of less than 2% per year, while garnishing workers’ wages for personal protective equipment and retaliating against laborers who took part in union activities.

The union initially said it planned to strike for two weeks. But JBS “has made no efforts to abate the unfair labor practices for which workers are striking, and instead has doubled down,” Local 7 officials Thursday evening.

“It is long past the time for JBS to return to the negotiating table, resolve the unfair labor practices, give workers a contract that respects them, protects their health and safety, and pays workers what they deserve,” UFCW Local 7 President Kim Cordova, the union’s chief spokesperson, said in the news release. “The union stands ready to meet with JBS at any time, but make no mistake, workers will continue to fight until JBS rights these wrongs.”

Despite JBS’s promise to shift production to other plants to account for the Greeley strike, the company has suffered a “meaningful loss in market share” since the strike began, union officials said.

JBS officials, for their part, say the meatpacking giant has maintained stable operations at the plant during the strike while lambasting the union’s actions and rhetoric in the media. The company has consistently questioned why Local 7 has refused to accept an offer that thousands of workers from its parent union at other facilities have already ratified.

“Local 7 has publicly claimed the dispute is about unfair labor practices, chain speed, and safe working environments,” the company said in a statement Thursday afternoon. “However, the union’s own proposals largely do not address or, in some instances, even relate to the alleged issues it complains of in the media. This strike is not about workplace conditions or legal violations.”

Workers told The Denver Post that they frequently get injured on the job, and that the company provides them with inadequate medical treatment. Production line speeds are so fast, they say, that they have to choose between safely doing their jobs or risk admonishment from management.

Meanwhile, the pay raises proposed by the company fail to keep up with the rising cost of living in northern Colorado, they contend.

, 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. It����ap 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. It����ap 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.

About 3,800 workers are set to walk off the job at the company’s flagship plant at 5:30 a.m. Monday over what they say are persistent unfair labor practices, unsafe working conditions and low wages. It would be the first strike at the Greeley plant in the company’s history.

JBS officials say they will temporarily shift production to facilities in other states where they have excess processing capacity.

“This approach ensures we can continue meeting customer needs and maintain the availability of beef for American consumers,” the company said in a statement this week.

The strike comes amid , which has already driven up beef prices. With fewer cows entering slaughterhouses, processing facilities are not working at capacity, experts say, giving them leeway to add additional cattle destined for the Greeley plant.

The facility processes between 5,000 and 6,000 head of cattle every day.

“When we think about this plant closing, that changes the location of where cattle are processed, but it doesn’t change that we have such a low number,” said Jaime Luke, an assistant professor at Department of Agricultural, Food and Resource Economics. “A reduction in processing capacity helps other facilities run more volume.”

But it’s not as simple as simply shifting production to another plant. Animals cannot travel infinite miles to a different part of the country due to .

How much production JBS will be able to relocate to other facilities remains a major question, said Jennifer Martin, an associate professor in College of Agricultural Sciences. The company has a footprint in .

“Once that is known, it will determine how big a supply chain shock and how much of a price shift we’ll see,” Martin said.

Any disruption to slaughter capacity will have a price and supply shock, she said. As supply goes down, prices go up — though Martin and other experts said they don’t believe grocery stores will be without beef to sell.

Other industry watchers told The Denver Post that they expected minimal impact on beef prices for consumers. Still, spring and summer are around the corner — and that means Americans are getting out their grills and cooking more beef.

JBS will likely want to settle this issue as demand increases in the warmer months, said Dan Buskirk, a professor and beef specialist at Michigan State University.

“If they’re not able to settle it before a strike, I think JBS will wanna be quick at resolving things,” he said.

The union representing JBS workers and the company remain at an impasse just days before the strike is set to begin.

The union, , has said the meatpacking giant has been unwilling to offer more than minimal wage increases and has retaliated against its members for conducting union activity.

Laborers told The Post that the job is often dangerous, leading to injuries and a lack of responsive medical care. Ninety-nine percent of unionized members in Greeley voted last month to authorize the strike.

JBS, in turn, has called the union’s contention that the company is seeking a labor dispute “frankly absurd,” saying the company has made “meaningful movement” on economic and other issues throughout the process. The union, JBS officials said, abruptly walked away from the negotiating table without providing a response to their updated offer.

, headquartered in Greeley, is a wholly owned subsidiary of Brazil-based , the world’s largest processor of beef and pork, with more than $50 billion in annual sales.

The company operates nine U.S. facilities, selling beef products to more than 44 countries on six continents. It employs more than 37,000 people at these plants, including nearly 4,000 workers at the Greeley location.

The meatpacking giant has also been in the crosshairs of U.S. regulators for years, along with myriad allegations from its employees over poor or unsafe working conditions.

United Food & Commercial Workers Local 7, the union representing 3,800 JBS laborers, announced Monday that its bargaining committee has met more than two dozen times with the company, but has been unable to reach a contract.

Recent talks have led nowhere, union officials said in a news release, sending workers a “clear message that the company is putting profits ahead of its people.”

“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,” the union said.

JBS, in a statement Monday, said it stands by the company’s offer, calling it “strong, fair and consistent” with a national contract reached last year with UFCW.

The company said it would ensure work for people who want to cross the picket line, but it also plans to temporarily shift production to other facilities to prevent disruptions.

“We do not believe a strike is in the best interest of our team members or their families,” JBS officials said.

Ninety-nine percent of unionized members in Greeley voted last month to authorize the strike.

Local 7 officials allege JBS has threatened to withhold a proposed bonus and pension payment if workers strike, and has retaliated against workers standing up for their rights. The meatpacking giant has proposed wage increases of less than 2% per year on average — not nearly enough to keep up with rising costs, the union says.

“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 give(s) workers no choice but to stand together in solidarity and show the company that they cannot be silenced,” UFCW Local 7 President Kim Cordova said in the news release.

Workers told The Denver Post last month that they frequently get injured on the job and do not receive adequate medical care from the on-site clinic.

Line speeds on the assembly floor are so fast, they said, that it’s impossible to do their work in a way that’s safe and healthy.

JBS USA, headquartered in Greeley, is a wholly owned subsidiary of Brazil-based JBS S.A., the world’s largest processor of beef and pork, with more than $50 billion in annual sales.

The company operates nine U.S. facilities, selling beef products to more than 44 countries on six continents. It employs more than 37,000 people at these plants, including nearly 4,000 workers at the Greeley location.

The meatpacking giant has also been in the crosshairs of U.S. regulators for years, along with myriad allegations from its employees over poor or unsafe working conditions.

Ninety-nine percent of unionized members voted to authorize the strike, according to United Food and Commercial Workers International Union Local 7. The timing of a potential walkout, which would be the first in the Greeley plant’s history, will be determined at a later date.

“The vote sends an unmistakable message: Workers are prepared to take immediate and serious action if JBS continues to violate federal labor law and prevent workers from securing a fair contract,” union officials said in a news release Wednesday evening.

JBS, in a statement Thursday morning, said the company had negotiated in good faith, offering “meaningful wage increases” and a pension plan. Workers at other JBS locations have already agreed to these terms, the statement said.

“We respect the collective bargaining process and remain hopeful that the local union will choose to move forward with this agreement so we can continue focusing on providing good-paying jobs, partnering with cattle producers in the region and serving our customers with high-quality food,” JBS representatives said.

The union, which represents 3,800 workers at the plant, and JBS have been negotiating a new contract for over eight months. The company, though, is only offering a 90-cent-per-hour wage increase for most workers, union representatives said, which does not keep pace with inflation and the rising cost of living in Greeley.

The meatpacking giant also charges workers when someone takes or damages their personal protective equipment and insists on a three-year agreement, the union said.

And the company has committed a host of unfair labor practices, including firing a member of the bargaining committee, punishing a worker for filing a grievance against management and making changes to working conditions without giving the union notice, UFCW officials alleged.

Workers on Wednesday afternoon, just after finishing the A shift at the plant, gathered at a hotel in Greeley to cast their votes. The facility represents a unique and diverse workplace, where employees speak more than 50 languages. The union set aside the entire day for voting, with translators for Spanish, Haitian Creole, Burmese and Somali.

Olga Barrios has been working for JBS for 24 years, and said she sees the company getting more and more comfortable with unfair labor practices. Working conditions, meanwhile, have continued to deteriorate as the demands on workers increase.

Speeds on the production line are so fast, she said, that workers don’t have time to sanitize themselves properly before the next carcass arrives to be butchered. The knife sharpener was broken for months, Barrios said, while the chains that hold the cows rip all the time, leading to dangerous situations for workers.

“Decent human dignity is what we’re asking for,” she said in Spanish through an interpreter.

Despite the dangerous line speeds, management expects perfection with every piece of meat, said Deborah Rodarte, another JBS worker. With a knife in one hand and a hook in the other, laborers have to be extremely careful not to hurt themselves or their co-workers standing alongside them, she said. Still, the job is hard on the body and leads to regular injuries.

“Every day, we’re pressured to work even when we’re hurt,” Rodarte said.

For many JBS workers, Wednesday’s action represented their first-ever act of democracy, said Mathew Shecter, general counsel for UFCW Local 7.

“There are a lot of stories demonizing immigrants,” he said. “These are people standing up to make sure their voices are heard.”

JBS USA, headquartered in Greeley, is a wholly owned subsidiary of Brazil-based JBS S.A., the world’s largest processor of beef and pork, with more than $50 billion in annual sales.

The company operates nine U.S. facilities, selling beef products to more than 44 countries on six continents. It employs more than 37,000 people at these plants, including nearly 4,000 workers at the Greeley location.

The meatpacking giant has also been in the crosshairs of U.S. regulators for years, along with myriad allegations from its employees over poor or unsafe working conditions.

The U.S. Department of Labor last year found .

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 poor 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.