Thousands of meatpacking workers began a two-week strike on Monday at the Swift Beef Co. plant in Greeley, Colorado, according to union officials and the company. The plant, owned by JBS USA, is one of the largest slaughterhouses in the United States, and the walkout could add pressure to an already tight, high-cost beef market for consumers.
The picketing began as the sun rose outside the Swift Beef site, with employees walking back and forth in cold morning conditions. Some workers said “huelga,” Spanish for “strike,” while others held signs encouraging people not to buy from JBS, the Associated Press reported.
Union officials said the strike followed a vote by workers at the plant. Claire Poundstone, an attorney for the United Food and Commercial Union Local 7, said 99% of the plant’s 3,800 unionized workers voted to strike. Poundstone said more than 2,600 workers were at the picket line by early Monday afternoon, and that additional workers were expected to check in over the coming days.
Poundstone said the strike could be repeated if the unfair labor practices recur. She said union leaders accuse JBS of retaliation against workers and other unfair labor practices, and that the company offered wage increases of less than 2% annually—below Colorado’s inflation rate.
JBS USA denied wrongdoing. A spokesperson for JBS said it had not committed labor law violations and that its offer was fair, according to the AP report. The company and the union blamed each other for an impasse that began before a contract ended Sunday night, the report said.
Union steward Leticia Avalos described the dispute as one over worker treatment and pay. She said, “They don’t really value their workers and we’re the ones that help them get all their profit,” while discussing how she relies on the job to support her family, including a 6-month-old baby. Avalos said she would make sacrifices to get the company to listen.
In an email response, JBS spokesperson Nikki Richardson said JBS employees wanted stability and that the union leadership denied workers an opportunity to vote. Richardson wrote, “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.” Richardson also said any employee who did not strike would have work and be paid, and that the company would move production as needed to other JBS facilities.
Union officials also said JBS has charged workers for personal protective equipment. The union said workers perform difficult and dangerous jobs and that JBS, in many cases, charged workers $1,100 or more to offset the company’s expenses for personal protective equipment. Matt Shechter, the union’s general counsel, also said the company tried to intimidate workers to quit the union in one-on-one meetings.
The strike comes as U.S. cattle numbers sit near historic lows and beef prices remain elevated. The AP reported a Jan. 1 inventory of 86.2 million cattle, down 1% from the prior year, and said beef prices have soared to record levels. The AP also cited tariffs on Brazil as a factor in curbing imports, and said President Donald Trump asked the Department of Justice to investigate affordability issues related to beef prices after Republican losses last November.
Analysts cited by the AP suggested that an extended dispute could ripple through the supply chain. Jennifer Martin of Colorado State University said feedlots could face higher costs if cattle stay in holding patterns longer. She said, “The feedlots, the people who have the cattle right now — the longer they sit kind of in a holding pattern, the more expensive they become to feed,” and added, “For consumers, it means that prices will likely go up.”
Martin said the strike follows other disruptions to meatpacking capacity, including a January closure of a plant in Lexington, Nebraska, which Tyson Foods said was driven by a smaller herd and expected losses. The AP also reported that the Greeley plant has about 6% of total U.S. beef slaughterhouse capacity, and that other slaughterhouses can absorb the Greeley plant’s work because the national herd is smaller.
In Greeley, the company is a major employer and the strike’s local impact is central to the union’s concerns. Avalos said striking has a “huge impact in the community” and that many workers are worried. She said, “It’s a huge impact in the community for us to be striking. I know a lot of us are worried, and hope that nothing goes even more south.”