JBS Meatpacking Workers in Greeley Announce Contract Extension to Be CancelledSunday, March 15 at 11:59 PM
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
March 6, 2026
CONTACT: Carla Wyatt | cwyatt@ufcw7.com | 303.425.0897 ext. 410
JBS Meatpacking Workers in Greeley Announce Contract Extension to Be Cancelled
Sunday, March 15 at 11:59 PM
Unfair Labor Practice Strike Could Commence Any Time After Extension is Cancelled
DENVER, Co. – Over the past month, meatpacking and food processing workers at JBS N.V. (NYSE: JBS) owned Swift Beef Company plant in Greeley, Colorado have repeatedly told their employer that the Company’s refusal to negotiate fairly for a new contract and retaliation against workers would not stand. The workers, represented by United Food and Commercial Workers International Union, Local 7, met again with representatives of JBS on Thursday and Friday, March 5 and 6, in a last-ditch effort to resolve the unfair labor practices and secure a contract that shows workers the dignity they deserve.
In February, workers voted overwhelmingly to authorize an unfair labor practice strike against their employer as a result of the Company’s steadfast refusal to negotiate fairly with workers and accede to proposals that fix the company’s pattern of wage theft, provide raises to workers that keep pace with the rising cost of living in Colorado, and ensure stable health care costs for workers. Unfortunately, that message was not taken seriously by JBS, and today’s negotiating session did not generate a breakthrough. As a result, the all-worker bargaining committee decided to give the required 7-day notice to JBS for the termination of the current extension agreement, allowing a strike to proceed as early as Monday, March 16.
The extension agreement currently has a 7-day notice requirement before it can be terminated. That termination notice was given this afternoon. The countdown has begun and once that clock counts down to zero, then the contract is no longer in place, and a strike could begin. The Union has not yet actually announced a strike, but strikes could begin as early as Monday morning, March 16.
“For months now, JBS has been insisting on poverty-level wages for workers at the plant, offering less than 2% in average annual wage increases, far below the level of inflation in Colorado, while at the same time putting all the risk of rising healthcare costs on workers. Meanwhile, despite being the world’s largest protein producer, JBS has been stealing from workers’ paychecks to fund the Company’s profits. JBS can afford to do better,” said Kim Cordova, President of UFCW Local 7.
Meatpacking workers require extensive personal protective equipment just to ensure they can get home alive at the end of each workday. Instead of ensuring workers have what they need, JBS has been charging many workers in a thinly veiled attempt to offset the cost of this equipment. The Greeley plant employs approximately 3,800 workers represented by UFCW Local 7.
Meanwhile, JBS’s proposed wage increases barely keep up with the rising cost of the Company’s healthcare plans. Workers at some JBS plants outside of Colorado, who received the same wage increase proposed for workers in Greeley recently had more than two-thirds of their 2026 wage gains eaten up by increased healthcare premiums. JBS is refusing to protect workers in Greeley against these unconscionable changes.
Even as it refuses to protect these workers, JBS has been accused of trafficking immigrant and other marginalized workers at the Greeley plant. These allegations come on the heels of Labor Department findings that JBS illegally allowed vendors to use child labor.
JBS workers, more than two thousand of whom showed up to vote, voted by 99% to authorize the unfair labor practice strike. Even in the face of this vote, JBS has refused to make meaningful changes to its proposals at the bargaining table or mitigate the Company’s unfair labor practices
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Local 7, the largest private-sector Union in Colorado, is affiliated with United Food and Commercial Workers International Union which represents over 1.3 million workers in the United States and Canada and is one of the largest private-sector Unions in North America. UFCW members work in a wide range of industries, including retail food, food processing, agriculture, retail sales, and health care.