Thousands of workers at one of the nation's largest meatpacking plants are extending their strike into a third week, demanding higher wages and improved healthcare.
Experts say it is too early to know if the walkout, which began on 16 March at the Swift Beef Co. plant in Greeley, Colorado, will impact beef prices for shoppers.
JBS USA, the plant's owner, said Friday it is operating at limited capacity, shifting beef production elsewhere to meet customer needs.
With negotiations stalled, the company remains in a strong position relative to the striking workers, Jennifer Martin of Colorado State University’s animal sciences department noted.
The industry is now less burdened by excess slaughter capacity, which had previously kept profit margins low. Amid the Greeley strike and other capacity reductions, including the closure of a major Tyson Foods’ plant in Nebraska, JBS and other companies are reportedly seeing profits increase, Martin said.
"It’s not necessarily in favour of the employees," she added. "The lack of harvest capacity at one facility right now might actually be a benefit to the larger industry in the sense of improving (profit) margins."
It’s the first strike at a US slaughterhouse since workers walked out at a Hormel plant in Minnesota in 1985.
That strike lasted more than a year and included violent confrontations between police and protesters.
The Greeley strike began on 16 March with support from 99 per cent of the plant’s 3,800 workers who belong to the United Food and Commercial Union Local 7 union. Thousands have showed up at the picket line over the past two weeks.
Union officials say the company’s offer of 2 per cent wage hikes is less than inflation.
“The Union stands ready to meet with JBS at any time, but make no mistake, workers will continue to fight until JBS rights these wrong,” union President Kim Cordova said.
JBS is the world’s largest meatpacking company with a market capitalization of $17 billion. It's the top employer in Greeley, a city 50 miles (80 kilometers) northeast of Denver with a population of about 114,000 people.
“We are maintaining supply, supporting the long-term stability of the beef chain, and minimizing disruption for producers, customers, and consumers,” JBS spokesperson Nikki Richardson said in an email. “Our priority is to keep product moving while we work toward a resolution in Greeley.”
JBS was approved for trading on the New York Stock Exchange last May, despite environmental opposition and a federal probe that led to its guilty plea for bribing Brazilian officials for the financing it used for its U.S. expansion.
After Minnesota scandal, Texas reviewed its child care spending. It found little fraud.
Woman whose son died from drugs bought on social media celebrates verdicts against Meta, YouTube
Investigators find gas utility pipes separated before deadly Mississippi explosions
The US needs a million troops to control Iran – not the few thousand on their way
US-Iran war in numbers: Thousands dead, billions spent and global economy in crisis
Cocaine bear step aside. Sharks test positive for illicit drugs in the Caribbean
