DENVER (AP) 鈥� Thousands of at one of the nation’s largest meatpacking plants will extend their walkout to a third week as they push for higher wages and better health care.
Industry experts said it鈥檚 too early to know if the strike that began March 16 at the Swift Beef Co. plant in Greeley, Colorado, will impact retail beef prices that already had .
鈥淭he workers know the value of their labor,鈥� union President Kim Cordova said Friday. 鈥淭his could be a long, drawn out fight.鈥�
Owner JBS USA said Friday that it’s operating the plant at limited capacity and has shifted beef production elsewhere to meet customers needs.
With negotiations stalled, the company remains in a strong position relative to the striking workers, said Jennifer Martin at Colorado State University鈥檚 animal sciences department.
That’s because the industry is suddenly less burdened by excess slaughter capacity that had been keeping profit margins low. Now amid the Greeley strike and other slaughter plant capacity reductions 鈥� including the closure of a major in Nebraska 鈥� companies are seeing profits increase, Martin said.
鈥淚t鈥檚 not necessarily in favor of the employees,鈥� she added. 鈥淭he lack of harvest capacity at one facility right now might actually be a benefit to the larger industry in the sense of improving (profit) margins.鈥�
It鈥檚 the first strike at a U.S. slaughterhouse since workers walked out at a Hormel plant in Minnesota in 1985. That strike and included violent confrontations between police and protesters.
The Greeley strike began with support from 99% of the plant鈥檚 3,800 workers who belong to the United Food and Commercial Workers Local 7 union. Thousands have showed up at the picket line over the past two weeks.
Union officials say the company鈥檚 offer of 2% wage hikes is less than inflation.
JBS said its contract offer is consistent with a deal reached with UFCW union workers at other plants. But Cordova said Colorado has a higher cost of living than those other locations and health care costs ate up much of the wage increase.
JBS is the world鈥檚 largest meatpacking company with a market capitalization of $17 billion. It’s the top employer in Greeley, a city 50 miles (80 kilometers) northeast of Denver with a population of about 114,000 people.
鈥淲e are maintaining supply, supporting the long-term stability of the beef chain, and minimizing disruption for producers, customers, and consumers,鈥� JBS spokesperson Nikki Richardson said in an email. 鈥淥ur priority is to keep product moving while we work toward a resolution in Greeley.鈥�
In 2020, the Greeley plant was the scene of Colorado鈥檚 deadliest workplace , with 291 infections and six deaths among plant workers. During the outbreak, President Donald Trump to keep meatpacking plants across the U.S. open over concerns about the pandemic’s impact on the nation鈥檚 food supply.
Federal regulators later fined JBS $15,615 for failing to protect .
In the wake of the pandemic, beef companies invested billions of dollars to increase slaughter capacity and ensure enough meat would be available for consumers, Martin said.
But recent years have seen U.S. cattle numbers drop to a 75-year low, driven in part by drought and low prices offered to ranchers. That’s meant the additional slaughter capacity is not as needed, Martin said.
JBS was on the New York Stock Exchange last May, despite and a federal probe that led to its for the financing it used for its U.S. expansion.
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Brown reported from Billings, Montana.
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