Colorado beef-plant strike pauses as 3,800 JBS workers vote to return while talks resume

On a raw April morning in Greeley, Colorado, the chain-link fence outside the JBS Swift Beef plant was quiet for the first time in weeks. The picket signs that had lined the road were gone. In their place, workers in hard hats and smocks will begin filing back through the gates Tuesday, returning to one of the country’s largest slaughterhouses after a three-week strike that rattled a key link in the U.S. beef supply.

Strike paused, not settled

Roughly 3,800 union workers at the plant voted Saturday to suspend their walkout and go back to work while contract talks with JBS USA resume. The strike, which began March 16, was the first at a major U.S. beef slaughterhouse since the 1980s and targeted a facility that handles as much as 6% of the nation’s beef slaughter capacity.

“Workers remain united and will continue to fight,” Kim Cordova, president of United Food and Commercial Workers Local 7, said in a statement announcing the pause. She said members agreed to return after JBS offered to reopen negotiations but emphasized that no tentative agreement has been reached.

JBS, the Brazilian-owned company that controls the plant and is the world’s largest meatpacker, said it is preparing to restart normal operations.

“We are preparing to resume and ramp up operations at the Greeley plant next week,” company spokesperson Nikki Richardson said in a written statement. “Our Last, Best and Final offer remains on the table. We hope employees will have the opportunity to review and vote on it soon.”

Union leaders have criticized that proposal as inadequate, saying it offers wage increases of less than 2% a year and leaves many workers struggling to keep up with housing, food and medical costs. Local 7 has characterized the stoppage as both a standard contract strike over pay and benefits and an unfair labor practice strike, accusing JBS of retaliation and other violations of federal labor law — allegations the company denies.

A critical node in the beef supply chain

The Greeley plant is one of the most important nodes in the country’s meat supply chain, able to process about 5,000 to 6,000 cattle a day. Any prolonged disruption there reverberates from cattle feedlots on the High Plains to supermarket meat cases across the country, especially at a time when the U.S. cattle herd is at its smallest in roughly 75 years and beef prices are at or near record highs.

The walkout began after about eight months of bargaining failed to produce a new contract for the 3,800 workers, who slaughter, cut and package beef at the Greeley facility. On March 16, after a strike authorization vote that union officials said passed with roughly 99% support, thousands of workers left the plant and set up picket lines around the sprawling complex northeast of downtown.

For days, they marched along the roadside and across from the plant entrance, some chanting “huelga” — Spanish for “strike” — and holding signs urging shoppers to avoid JBS products. Many strikers are immigrants from Latin America, Somalia, Haiti and other countries who have long staffed some of the most dangerous jobs in the meatpacking industry.

“This is hard work. Your body hurts, your hands swell, and the bills are going up,” one worker said during the strike, describing her years on the line trimming beef. “We are only asking to live with dignity.”

Pay, benefits and safety at the center of the dispute

The union’s demands center on higher base pay, more affordable health insurance and changes to working conditions, including line speeds and staffing levels. Meatpacking is consistently ranked among the most hazardous occupations in the United States, with high rates of amputations, cuts and repetitive-motion injuries.

Local 7 has also raised concerns about how JBS has treated immigrant workers, citing what it called “human trafficking-like” recruitment and housing schemes in past public statements. JBS has rejected those accusations and said it complies with labor and immigration laws.

The dispute is colored by the plant’s history during the COVID-19 pandemic. In 2020, the Greeley facility became the site of Colorado’s deadliest workplace outbreak, with nearly 300 documented infections and six worker deaths. The plant briefly closed that April under pressure from local and state officials and later reopened. Federal safety regulators ultimately fined JBS a comparatively modest amount for violations, drawing criticism from worker advocates and families of the dead.

Many of the same workers who stayed on the job during that outbreak joined this year’s strike, saying the experience deepened their mistrust of management and heightened their focus on health protections and medical coverage.

Industry ripple effects and the limits of disruption

The Greeley plant’s outsized role in the beef industry has put the strike under close watch from ranchers, retailers and analysts. The facility is one of a handful of massive slaughterhouses controlled by four companies — JBS, Tyson Foods, Cargill and National Beef — that together dominate U.S. beef processing. Industry estimates suggest Greeley alone processes roughly one out of every 20 cattle slaughtered for beef in the country.

The walkout unfolded as cattle numbers continue to shrink. Government data show the national herd at about 86 million head at the start of this year, the lowest level since the early 1950s, after years of drought and high feed costs pushed ranchers to sell off animals. Retail beef prices have climbed sharply as a result, with average prices for ground beef and all-fresh beef setting or nearing historical highs.

Even a three-week slowdown at Greeley carried risks for packers and buyers. During the strike, JBS said the plant operated at limited capacity and that it diverted some cattle to other company facilities to meet customer demand. Analysts say it would take a longer shutdown to significantly move retail prices, but the stoppage highlighted how dependent the system is on a small number of very large plants.

What happens next

The return-to-work vote reflects not only the leverage workers gained by interrupting such a key operation, but also the financial strain of staying off the job. Many meatpacking workers live paycheck to paycheck, and strike benefits from the union can cover only a portion of lost income.

Cordova said members weighed those pressures against their long-term goals. “They are going back inside, but this is not over,” she said. “They want a fair contract.”

The company, for its part, faces its own calculations. JBS has expanded rapidly in the United States over the past two decades and last year listed shares on the New York Stock Exchange, courting global investors who pay close attention to operational disruptions and labor disputes. Prolonged unrest at a major plant could complicate supply contracts with large retailers and restaurant chains and raise questions for shareholders focused on social and governance issues.

State and federal labor officials are monitoring the situation. Unfair labor practice allegations fall under the jurisdiction of the National Labor Relations Board, which can seek remedies if it finds violations, including reinstatement for workers and changes to company policies. No final NLRB rulings have been issued in this dispute.

In Greeley, a city of about 114,000 where JBS is the largest employer, the strike’s impact has rippled through households and local businesses. Grocery stores, landlords and small shops have reported tighter budgets among regular customers tied to the plant. Residents have expressed both support for the workers’ demands and concern about the town’s dependence on a single corporate employer with a long record of controversy.

For now, cattle trucks are expected to resume lining up at the plant’s receiving docks as workers return to the kill floor and fabrication lines. Hanging over them is the knowledge that their future paychecks, protections and benefits remain unsettled.

The next round of bargaining will determine whether this three-week walkout becomes a brief skirmish in a long-running fight or a turning point in how one of America’s most critical food factories treats the people who keep it running.