FILE - This Swift Beef Co. facility located at 800 N. 8th Ave in Greeley. ((Photo By Helen H. Richardson/The Denver Post via Getty Images)
Thousands of workers from the Swift Beef Co. are going on strike after alleging the company committed unfair labor practices.
Employees in Greeley, Colorado, began a two-week strike outside of one of the largest slaughterhouses in the United States on Monday.
Dig deeper:
Union officials have accused JBS USA of offering wage increases of less than 2% annually, which is below Colorado's inflation rate.
By the numbers:
They added that 99% of the plant’s 3,800 unionized workers voted to strike.
More than 2,600 showed up at the picket line by early Monday afternoon and others were expected to check in over coming days, said Claire Poundstone, an attorney for the United Food and Commercial Union Local 7.
What they're saying:
"They don’t really value their workers and we’re the ones that help them get all their profit," said Leticia Avalos, a union steward and Greeley native who has been working at the plant since 2020.
Dangerous job
Local perspective:
The union told The Associated Press its workers perform some of the most difficult and dangerous jobs in the country and deserve higher wages and better health care.
It said JBS in many cases has charged workers $1,100 or more to offset the company’s expenses for personal protective equipment.
JBS spokesperson Nikki Richardson said "many team members" reported to work but did not provide a precise number.
"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 wrote in an email.
Richardson said any employee who didn’t strike would have work and be paid. The company also has said it would move production as needed to other JBS facilities.
Beef prices soar in the US
Big picture view:
U.S. cattle numbers are continuing to decline as beef prices soar.
The price of 100% ground chuck beef more than doubled over the past two decades, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Meanwhile:
The strike follows the January closure of a meatpacking plant in Lexington, Nebraska, which was expected to ripple through the local economy and community. Tyson Foods cited the smaller herd and millions of dollars in expected losses this year for the closure.
The Greeley plant has about 6% of the total U.S. beef slaughterhouse capacity, a livestock market adviser for Ever. Ag. told AP.
An extended dispute with the Greeley workers could disrupt the industry, particularly in Colorado and neighboring states, said Jennifer Martin at Colorado State University’s animal sciences department.
The Source: Information for this article was taken from The Associated Press.