GREELEY — Thousands of union workers employed by the largest meatpacking company in the U.S. went on strike early Monday morning, calling for higher wages and safer working conditions at the JBS facility in Greeley.
Before sunrise, with the temperature hovering around 20 degrees, hundreds of employees, some with blankets draped over their shoulders, walked a picket line carrying signs asking people not to patronize the company.
The union, which represents 3,800 workers at the plant, has accused JBS of trying to squeeze more out of staff while reducing hours and creating an unsafe work environment. Kim Cordova, president of UFCW Local 7, said the plant has increased the speed of the production line, processing 420 animals per hour, up from 390. As well as higher wages, workers want reimbursement of protective gear, which can cost hundreds of dollars.
“This is an historic moment in time to see workers come out like this,” Cordova said Monday morning while standing with workers on the picket line. “It’s a real showing of worker power.”
Strikers booed cars turning into the plant and a passerby shouted “Si, se puede!” (“Yes, you can!”) as people huddled in small groups. Union reps yelled “keep walking” to strikers that stalled on the line.
The union has filed a handful of complaints with the National Labor Relations Board alleging retaliation and change to terms and conditions of employment by JBS, also known as Swift Beef Company.
JBS spokesperson Nikki Richardson said in an email that the company has spent the past eight months in discussions with union members over a new contract.
“Over the past eight months, JBS USA worked diligently to reach a balanced and responsible agreement with UFCW Local 7. Instead of continuing constructive dialogue, the union abruptly ended negotiations and unilaterally canceled the existing contract,” Richardson said in a statement released Monday. “Their decision has created unnecessary disruption for team members who were never given the chance to review or vote on the company’s proposal.”
Cordova said JBS’s proposal to raise wages by 60 cents an hour in the first year and 30 cents annually for the next two years is similar to a national agreement the company made with unions in other states last year, but that it does not cover Colorado’s higher cost of living.
“JBS is trying to force us to take the national agreement,” she said. “But the health care costs increased 22 cents an hour (so) those folks got an 8-cent increase. That’s not gonna work for us.”
Richardson previously called the latest offer “strong, fair and consistent with the historic national contract reached in 2025 in partnership with UFCW International.”
This is the first strike for the meatpacking industry since a national-level one occurred at Hormel Foods in Minnesota in 1985.
JBS employees have been working on an extension of the expired contract since July and gave a seven-day notice that they planned to strike.
“We’ve said we don’t want to bargain against ourselves,” Cordova said Monday morning. “Our goal here is to reach an agreement. So unless they want this kind of disruption for our economy here in Colorado they should.”
Headquartered in Greeley, JBS USA has 132 processing facilities, 109,000 employees and operates in nine countries, according to its website. In Greeley, workers process cattle into cuts of meat that end up on dinner tables nationwide. JBS, also known as Swift Beef Company, is one of the biggest beef processors in the country.
This is a developing story that will be updated.