Workers plan to halt strike at major US meatpacking plant and resume negotiations
Workers at one of the nation’s largest meatpacking plants have agreed to return to work and end a three-week strike after plant owner JBS USA agreed to continue negotiations, labor union representatives announced Saturday.
Swift Beef Co. in Greeley, Colorado. The strike of thousands of workers at the plant began on March 16, coordinated by the United Food and Commercial Workers Local 7 union, demanding higher wages and better health care.
The strike comes after cattle numbers in the U.S. hit a 75-year low this year; This decline was partly due to drought and the low prices offered to farmers. Meanwhile, beef prices rose to save levels economic anxiety in the USA
The union said in a statement that workers will return to work Tuesday morning after plant owner JBS USA agreed to restart talks later in the week.
“Workers will remain united and continue to fight,” local union president Kim Cordova said in a statement.
JBS USA spokeswoman Nikki Richardson said the company is “preparing to restart and ramp up operations at its Greeley facility next week.”
“Our Last, Best and Final offer remains on the table,” Richardson said in an email without conditions. “We hope employees will have the opportunity to review and vote soon.”
The strike in Greeley is the first at a U.S. slaughterhouse since workers struck at the Hormel plant in Minnesota in 1985. it took more than a year and there were also violent clashes between police and protesters.
JBS is the world’s largest meatpacking company, with a market value of $17 billion. It is the largest employer in Greeley, a city 50 miles (80 kilometers) northeast of Denver with a population of about 114,000.
The strike in Greeley resulted in union officials calling Swift Beef Co. It was launched amid accusations that management retaliated against workers and engaged in other unfair labor practices.
The union said the company offered wages of less than 2% a year, which is below inflation in Colorado. JBS USA denied labor law violations and said the contract offer was fair.
The Greeley plant has about 6% of total U.S. beef slaughterhouse capacity, said Abby Greiman, livestock market consultant for industry consultant Ever.Ag.
A prolonged strike threatens to disrupt the industry, which could ultimately drive up prices, said Jennifer Martin of Colorado State University’s animal sciences department.
100% ground beef price more than twice It has increased from $2.55 to $6.07 per pound over the past two decades, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
The strike in Colorado followed the closure of a store in January. Meatpacking plant in Lexington, NebraskaThis was expected to create ripples in the local economy and community. Tyson Foods cited the smaller herd and millions of dollars in losses expected this year.
JBS shares approved for trade Although on the New York Stock Exchange last May environmental opposition and a federal investigation that led to Pleaded guilty to bribery of Brazilian officials in October for the financing it used for its expansion in the US.
Union general counsel Matt Shechter said union officials at the Greeley plant said the company was trying to scare workers into leaving the union in one-on-one meetings.
