GREELEY, Colo. (AP) — About 3,800 workers for the world’s largest meatpacking company began striking Monday in Colorado, and if they don’t get a new contract soon, already costly beef could become even more expensive for U.S. consumers.
As the sun rose, hundreds of strikers picketed outside the Swift Beef Co. plant in Greeley, owned by JBS USA and
one of the largest slaughterhouses in the nation.
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The first walkout at a U.S. beef slaughterhouse in four decades follows accusations from union officials that the company retaliated against workers and committed other unfair labor practices.
The union also said the company offered less than 2% more a year in wages, which is less than inflation in Colorado.
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The price for 100% ground chuck beef
more than doubled over the past two decades from $2.55 to $6.07 per pound, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
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The Greeley plant has about 6% of the total U.S. beef slaughterhouse capacity, said Abby Greiman, a livestock market adviser for industry consultant Ever.Ag.
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At the Greeley plant, the company tried to intimidate workers to quit the union in one-on-one meetings, union general counsel Matt Shechter said.
Despite the pressure,
99% of workers voted to authorize the strike, said Kim Cordova, president of the United Food and Commercial Union Local 7.
It’s the first strike at a U.S. slaughterhouse since workers walked out at a Hormel plant in Minnesota in 1985, according to Cordova and Martin. That strike
lasted more than a year and included violent confrontations between police and protesters, according to the Minnesota Historical Society.