After eight months of negotiations, the UFCW Local 7 and JBS appeared to have hit a wall. Workers at the JBS-owned Swift Plant in Greeley now say they will strike at 5:30 a.m. on Monday, March 16.
According to the union, its bargaining committee met more than two dozen times with JBS as the negotiations continued. The sticking points include safety equipment, wages that reflect the cost of living, and the rising cost of health care premiums.
Today’s announcement fulfills the union’s required seven-day notice that the contract extension has been canceled. The last contract expired in July 2025.
In a statement, JBS said it stands by its current offer.
“It is strong, fair, and consistent with the historic national contract reached in 2025 in partnership with UFCW International — an agreement that has already delivered higher wages, a secure pension, and long‑term financial stability for team members at our other major facilities,” according to the statement.
The company said that the Greeley union left the bargaining table abruptly and refuses to let workers vote on the offer.
In early February, 99% of workers at the Greeley plant authorized the union to strike.
“The goal of negotiations is never to go on strike,” President Kim Cordova said in a Monday release. “But when the Company violates workers’ rights and ignores workers’ concerns about safety and health, the Company gives workers no choice but to stand together in solidarity and show the Company that they cannot be silenced.”
Cordova claimed that JBS has violated labor law by intimidating workers and conducting “regressive bargaining,” taking away or reducing previous offers. The union has filed multiple unfair labor practice charges against JBS.
The meat-processing plant in northern Colorado is JBS’s largest beef processing site in the U.S. JBS said it was working to minimize any impact on customers if Greeley workers do strike.
“To protect the long‑term stability of the beef supply chain, we will temporarily shift production to other JBS facilities where we currently have excess processing capacity,” JBS said in a statement.
