Swift Beef Co. workers in Greeley, Colorado, reached an agreement with JBS USA that will end weeks of disruption at one of the country’s largest meatpacking plants, the company and labor officials said Sunday. JBS USA said the Swift Beef facility will “immediately return to normal operations” after the labor deal.
The agreement follows a strike involving thousands of workers at the Swift Beef plant and their union, the United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) Local 7. The strike lasted three weeks, and it ended April 4 after JBS USA agreed to resume negotiations.
Union leaders said the contract includes wage increases spread over the next two years and a $750 one-time bonus. In a statement, the union described the tentative agreement as a contract with “all gains, countless improvements, and not a single concession.” UFCW also said the agreement requires the company to pay for personal protective equipment and to defend workers against increases in health care costs.
UFCW Local 7 president Kim Cordova described the picketing as a deliberate show of leverage and resolve. Cordova said workers “picketed through extreme weather ‘because they knew their worth and refused to be disrespected. Today, that sacrifice has been rewarded.’” In the same statement, Cordova said, “This is what union power looks like.”
JBS USA said it was pleased an agreement had been reached and expressed a goal of restoring stability and continuing to invest in the Greeley facility. The company, however, said it was disappointed that union leadership chose to eliminate pension benefits negotiated last year, arguing that the pension was designed to strengthen long-term retirement security and that the union shifted those dollars into short-term wage increases.
JBS USA also said the union would withdraw seven alleged unfair labor practice charges, according to the company. The union did not immediately respond to a request from The Associated Press for further details.
The strike at Greeley was the first strike at a U.S. slaughterhouse since workers walked out at a Hormel plant in Minnesota in 1985, according to the AP. That earlier strike lasted more than a year and was marked by violent confrontations between police and protesters, the report said. JBS, which is headquartered in part through JBS NV’s structure, is described by the AP as the world’s largest meatpacking company, with a market capitalization of $17 billion. Greeley is about 50 miles (80 kilometers) northeast of Denver and has a population of about 114,000 people, according to the AP report.