Multinational meat packing company JBS USA agreed to continue negotiations with a labor union after a third week of an over 3,000 worker strike at the meatpacking plant in Greeley, Colorado.
As a result of a letter sent by labor union president Kim Cordova, JBS has accepted the union’s offer to end the strike and return members to work without preconditions starting Tuesday, April 7.
The strike was started by the United Food and Commercial Workers Local 7 Union, which claims that 99% of participating workers at the plant voted for. The UFCW says that JBS has failed to fairly negotiate a contract with workers that properly accounts for inflation and the rising cost of health care in Northern Colorado.
“The two things that right now are driving inflation are housing and health,” said Dawn Thilmany, professor of agriculture and resource economics at Colorado State University.
Negotiations between JBS and UFCW concerning a contract lasted months before the strike took place. The company’s latest offer is a national contract that provides less than desirable wage increases per year, according to a statement from the union back in March.
“The Company needs to give them an offer that takes life saving safety equipment seriously, provides wages which meet the rising cost of living in Colorado and ensures rising health care costs do not consume workers’ wages,” the statement reads.
The contract covers all 26,000 JBS workers across the country, many of whom are located in areas much more rural than Greeley, Thilmany said.
“We probably have the strongest upward pressure on cost of living,” Thilmany said.
The Center of Medicare Advocacy attributed President Donald Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act to having cut over $1 trillion from health programs, making it the largest decrease in federal support for health care in American history.
Thilmany emphasized that workers on public health care are feeling these federal budget cuts more than ever now.
“If you’re on Medicaid or any program where you need some public augmentation or subsidization of your health care, you are feeling it really, really significantly right now,” Thilmany said.
Many JBS workers also say they can’t afford the private health care premiums the national contract offers, according to the union’s press releases, making it hard for workers to feel safe and secure in a notoriously dangerous job.
“They get Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield,” said Evan Peterson, the Democratic Socialists of America Greeley co-chair. “They cannot afford the premiums that Anthem charges them.”
Nicholas, who declined to provide his last name for fear of retribution, is a part of the Union and has been employed by JBS USA for around ten years. He said his family has struggled to keep up with increased grocery prices and unexpected bills at the doctor.
“The way that prices on everything are skyrocketing, we need that extra pay just to make sure that we have the quality of life this type of heavy labor is meant to afford us,” Nicholas said. “I was really surprised by getting a bill from a clinic whenever I thought it going to be covered by insurance.”
At worker protests, Peterson has talked to numerous people who say they do not get the proper personal protective equipment. The UFCW highlights workers have had to even pay for the equipment themselves.
“I don’t know how many people have cut themselves, been stabbed in the eye or had some sort of other injury, including being exposed to COVID,” Peterson said. “After they leave the factory, they leave their job, they don’t get a pension, they don’t get a 401(k)—they get a broken back.”
Before agreeing to come back to the negotiating table, JBS had pushed back on claims by the labor union in public statements. The Greeley plant has remained open at limited capacity and has shifted its production to other meat-packing facilities in order to minimize disruptions.
As stated in a letter sent to Cordova, workers will begin working at the plant for limited hours as JBS prepares to go back to full capacity. Everyone who participated in the strike will be paid by the Union, Nicholas said.
“I know myself and everyone else that participated will get paid by the Union,” Nicholas said. “I am glad to be going back to normal schedule.”
The UFCW and JBS plan to meet on April 9 and 10 to continue negotiations for a contract that focuses on free PPE and fair wages as specified in an update sent to union members.
Source: collegian.com
