GREELEY, Colo. — Going into their second week on strike, hundreds of members of United Food and Commercial Workers Local 7 picketed outside the giant JBS meatpacking plant here March 24. Fed up with unsafe and abusive conditions in the plant and wages that don’t keep up with inflation, 99% of the big majority who voted, voted to strike.
“JBS only wants to give us a $1.20 raise over three years,” Morgan Robinson, 29, told the Militant. “They also want to increase the line speed, more than they are already doing. It’s a struggle to keep up with the line. A lot of people are getting hurt.”
Although a majority of workers in the plant are immigrants, speaking different languages, she said training is only given in English and Spanish. “Everyone deserves a job, no matter where they are from,” she said. “But these workers are not getting proper training.” Union flyers are printed in English, Spanish, French, Haitian Creole, Burmese (for workers from Myanmar) and Somali.
“We get no respect and there is much abuse,” striker Catalina Andriana told the Militant. “There is no time to go to the bathroom. The bosses yell at us, ‘Work, work, work!’”
Lulia, a striker from Eritrea who didn’t want to give her last name, said she had worked at the Cargill meatpacking plant in Fort Morgan and recently moved here to get a job at JBS. “Everyone voted for the strike. My parents worked here for 10 years. They told me about what it’s like to work here. It’s horrible, especially for the workers who don’t speak English.
“I speak English and can understand the supervisors,” she said, “but most of the workers can’t understand them.”
Another big issue for the strikers is that they are responsible for buying the new protective gear when their old ones wear out. The metal-mesh aprons that prevent cuts from the knives they use can cost over $1,000. Another issue is the bosses’ lack of concern for keeping workers supplied with sharp knives.
JBS, headquartered in Brazil, is the largest beef and pork meatpacking company in the world, and one of the largest meatpacking companies in the U.S. The plant slaughters about 6,000 head of cattle a day, some 8% of the total beef production in the country.
With the strike, production at the plant is minimal. JBS has been shifting cattle deliveries from its feedlots, where the livestock are fattened, to its other processing plants in Nebraska and Texas.
Support for the strike in the area is strong. The economy of Greeley depends on the plant. Although he doesn’t work there now, Carlos Gallegos said he had worked at JBS three different times since he was 18. He comes to join the picket line in solidarity. “I have never seen a movement like this,” he said. “Standing up for your rights like is happening here is a big thing for this union.”
This battle needs and deserves solidarity from workers everywhere. Help get out the word and build support.
To contribute to the JBS strikers’ fund, go to UFCW7.org, click on “JBS Strike 2026,” scroll down to “Stand with JBS workers/Donate to supporting striking workers.” Solidarity messages can be sent to UFCW Local 7 at 1006 9th Ave., Greeley, CO 80631.
Strikers welcome solidarity visits to join them on the picket line.