Meat Packing Industry Wage-Fixing Continues with Cargill Lockout
Cargill chose to lock out approximately 1,700 workers in Fort Morgan, Colorado represented by Teamsters Local 455 after workers refused wage increases tied to industry competitor JBS.
Greeley, CO – Just hours after workers reportedly overwhelmingly rejected Cargill’s offer for a new 5-year agreement, Cargill locked out its workers at 12:01 a.m. on Wednesday, May 20, 2026. This lockout comes on the heels of a three-week strike by nearly 3,800 United Food and Commercial Workers Local 7 members at the JBS-owned Swift Beef plant in nearby Greeley, Colorado back in March.
UFCW Local 7 has learned that Cargill is insisting on a wage increase structure for Teamsters workers at its Fort Morgan plant directly tied to those recently negotiated between UFCW Local 7 and JBS for its own workers. Indeed, the 5-year agreement being offered by Cargill and rejected by workers offers wage increases and a ratification bonus identical to amounts recently negotiated by UFCW Local 7 for workers at the Greeley plant, a fourth-year wage increase identical to increases secured by JBS for beef processing facilities in Nebraska, Wisconsin, and Michigan as well as numerous pork processing facilities nationwide, with a proposed fifth year increase connected with the industry’s goal of wage increases far below the level of inflation.
Based on Cargill’s claimed average wage for workers at the plant, the wage increases amount to an average annual wage increase of less than 1.75% over the next 5 years. Meanwhile, inflation in the price of beef continues unabated for the consumer, with prices expected to rise another 6.3% this year according to the USDA. This year’s increase comes on top of a roughly 60% industry increase in the price of steaks since 2020 according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. With this huge disconnect between rising prices and stagnant wages, market concentration continues to be the focus of regulators and market watchers.
Since 1971, concentration in the beef industry has skyrocketed, with the top four processors accounting for only 25% of the market. Today, that number is 85% according to Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins. With just four companies, including JBS and Cargill, controlling so much of both the market and the workforce, the risk of illegal collusion is sky high. Unfortunately, despite tough talk on regulation, the Trump administration shut down an inquiry into the “big four” meatpackers back in 2018 continuing to allow concentration to run rampant.
Moreover, a $202.7 million settlement in a class action alleging wage-fixing by JBS, Cargill, and other major meatpackers is merely the tip of the proverbial iceberg. This settlement comes on top of other multi-million-dollar settlements in suits brought against the JBS, Cargill, and other major meatpackers by farmers, ranchers, and customers.
United Food and Commercial Workers Local 7 members stand in solidarity with these locked-out workers represented by Teamsters Local 455. Today, UFCW Local 7 President Kim Cordova and more than a dozen Local 7 members walked the picket lines with their Teamsters brethren. Cordova said, “Meatpacking workers have had enough of substandard wages and corporate collusion. Regardless of whether you are a Teamster, a UFCW member, a consumer just trying to feed your loved ones, or a rancher trying to save a family farm, this fight is our fight! UFCW Local 7 will always stand with working families and against the billionaire monopolists.”
Meanwhile, the Cargill plant is not the only Colorado meat processing facility under threat of a labor dispute. UFCW Local 7 represented workers at JBS-owned Denver Processing, a case-ready beef and pork production facility in Denver, recently voted overwhelmingly to authorize an unfair labor practice strike. JBS, which operates the Denver Processing plant, continues to insist upon similar poverty-level wage increases at the Denver Processing plant. Negotiations at Denver Processing will continue next week.