Striking workers at a JBS beef plant in the US return to the shop floor today (7 April) with talks with the meat giant set to resume this week.
A new round of contract negotiations between the union and the US unit of the Brazilian firm are due to begin on 9-10 April, bringing an end to more than three weeks of industrial action, according to the staff union.
Discover B2B Marketing That Performs
Combine business intelligence and editorial excellence to reach engaged professionals across 36 leading media platforms.
The strike at the facility in Greeley in Colorado started on 16 March after workers at the site agreed to walk out. The United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) Local 7 unit claimed at the time it had been in talks with JBS for more than eight months over new contracts.
UFCW had accused JBS of “putting profits ahead of its people” as it sought to secure a deal to address safety equipment issues, pay and benefits.
Announcing the return to work in a statement this weekend, UFCW said “thousands” of staff had taken part in the strike.
“Despite JBS’s efforts to deceive workers and the media as to the plant’s status, the plant has been almost completely idle with only a miniscule fraction of production occurring at quality levels far below that which skilled union workers can produce,” the statement read.
Kim Cordova, the president of UFCW Local 7 and the union’s chief spokesperson, added: “Workers remain united and will continue to fight until JBS fully ends its unfair labour practices and gives workers a contract offer that protects them, shows workers the respect they deserve, and pays them a liveable wage.
“This fight will continue and workers can take strength from the community members, farmers and ranchers, and elected officials who have joined them in this battle. We will not stop until JBS rectifies the suffering it has brought on these workers and the American people as a whole.”
Just Food has asked JBS for comment on the resumption of talks.
UFCW Local 7 went on to say in the weekend statement that JBS and other unidentified “large meatpackers paid a reported $200m to resolve allegations that the companies had unlawfully conspired to suppress wages in beef processing nationwide”.
The union claimed JBS had offered workers average wage increases of 1.5% a year, which it said were “far below both historic and anticipated inflation”.
It also lodged the accusation against JBS that the company has “recently doubled down on its illegal tactics by threatening to discontinue their [workers’] healthcare benefits, and by threatening workers with termination if they did not resign from the union and refuse to strike”.
