First meatpacking strike in decades as thousands of workers walk out
JBS-owned facility in Colorado sees mass walkout this month.
Credit: Diana Hulet
In the meatpacking industry's first strike in 40 years, thousands of workers walked off their jobs at the JBS Greeley facility in Greeley, Colorado, on Monday 16th March.
The action is a response to accusations of poor working conditions - nearly all of the 3,800 unionized employees had registered for the strike fund, following previously failed negotiations.
The strike is planned to last two weeks, but could potentially be extended.
According to union leaders, the dispute revolves around wages, the cost of healthcare, and the cost of protective gear that the work requires.
The union also notes that 99% of workers at the plant authorized a strike this year over "poverty-level" wages and unfair labor practices.
Discrimination against immigrant workers has also been alleged - line speeds are reported to have been increased for Haitian workers, for example.
"JBS is more interested in a labor dispute at the Greeley plant than resolving these issues," said Kim Cordova, president of the United Food and Commercial Workers International Union local that represents Greeley workers. "They are trying to suppress wages within the industry."
Credit: Diana Hulet
The Brazil-headquartered JBS is the world's largest meat-processing company. It operates over 130 facilities across the United States and has 109,000 staff in the country.
One of the largest facilities of its kind, the JBS Greeley meatpacking plant can slaughter up to 6,000 animals per day and accounts for 5% of the country's total beef-processing capacity.
JBS claims that wages at the Greeley plant have seen significant increases in the last few years - but the union counters that these raises have been negated by the skyrocketing cost of living in Colorado.
A JBS spokesperson said, "We do not believe a strike is in the best interest of our team members or their families. We stand by the offer we presented. It is strong, fair, and consistent with the historic national contract reached in 2025."
The strike comes at a time when cattle herds are smaller, which drives up the cost, creating a profit squeeze for meatpackers. The costs are set to remain high over the coming years, as ranchers are reluctant to rebuild herds.
Pilgrim’s Pride, a subsidiary of JBS, has donated $5 million to the Trump-Vance inaugural committee, thus becoming its largest donor. The administration is currently struggling with poor polling on cost-of-living issues.
Recently, the administration has come under fire for proposing new legislation that would allow slaughterhouses to set their own limits on killing speed, which could put workers even more at risk of injury, not to mention cause even more animal suffering.
“The goal of negotiations is never to go on strike,” Cordova said in a statement reported by CBS Colorado. “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.”
Take action: A sinister and dangerous threat is looming over our nation's animals, and we need your voice to fight back. The Food Security and Farm Protection Act (S.1326), formerly known as the EATS Act, has recently been reintroduced in Congress, putting animals at risk across the country. Join Species Unite and tell Congress loud and clear to reject the Food Security and Farm Protection Act.
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