Swift Beef Co. workers in Greeley, Colorado, will return to work Tuesday after agreeing to halt their three-week strike, union representatives said Saturday, citing a new commitment from the plant owner, JBS USA, to restart negotiations. The announcement comes after thousands of workers walked out on March 16 as United Food and Commercial Workers Local 7 sought higher wages and better health care.
Union president Kim Cordova said in a statement that workers “remain united and will continue to fight,” even as they plan to resume work. The union said workers will return to the line Tuesday morning after JBS USA agreed to reopen talks later in the week.
A JBS USA spokesperson, Nikki Richardson, said the company is “preparing to resume and ramp up operations at the Greeley plant next week.” Richardson also said in an email that “Our Last, Best and Final offer remains on the table,” adding that the company hopes employees will have the opportunity to review and vote on it soon. The email did not include contract terms.
The walkout at Swift Beef is tied to demands the union described as including improved wages and health care benefits. The strike began March 16 and was coordinated with United Food and Commercial Workers Local 7 as workers sought changes through collective bargaining, according to the union.
Earlier in the dispute, union officials had accused management of retaliating against workers and committing other unfair labor practices. The union said the company offered less than 2% more per year in wages, which it characterized as below inflation in Colorado, while JBS USA denied labor law violations and said its contract offer was fair.
The Swift Beef strike is also notable in the broader U.S. labor context, with the AP report describing it as the first strike at a U.S. slaughterhouse since workers walked out at a Hormel plant in Minnesota in 1985. That earlier strike lasted more than a year and included violent confrontations between police and protesters, according to the reporting.
The dispute unfolded as cattle supplies tightened nationwide, the AP report said, with U.S. cattle numbers hitting a 75-year low this year. The report attributed the decline in part to drought and low prices offered to ranchers, while beef prices rose to record levels, intensifying economic anxiety.
Jennifer Martin of Colorado State University’s animal sciences department told the AP that an extended strike threatened to disrupt the industry, which could ultimately drive up prices. The report said the Greeley plant has about 6% of total U.S. beef slaughterhouse capacity, quoting Abby Greiman, a livestock market adviser for industry consultant Ever.Ag.
The AP report also connected the timing to other disruptions in meatpacking, including the January closure of a meatpacking plant in Lexington, Nebraska, which was expected to ripple through the local economy and community. It also said JBS shares were approved for trading on the New York Stock Exchange last May despite environmental opposition and a federal probe that led to its guilty plea in October for bribing Brazilian officials tied to financing used for U.S. expansion.
At the Swift Beef plant, union general counsel Matt Shechter said union officials believed the company tried to intimidate workers to quit the union during one-on-one meetings. As negotiations reopen, Cordova’s statement signaled that the union expects to keep pressing its position even as the strike pauses and work resumes.