The $8 Pound of Ground: How the Greeley Strike just reset your family's grocery budget.
- Victoria Kamer
- Mar 16
- 4 min read
Updated: Mar 26
A company that admitted to a multi-million dollar bribery scheme and was caught using 13-year-olds to clean bone saws is now offering its adult workers a 60-cent raise while allegedly threatening them with ICE. The punchline? It’s going to raise the cost of your beef even more.
The Picket Line in Greeley
This morning, the silence at the JBS-owned Swift Beef plant in Greeley, Colorado, was broken by the sound of 3,800 workers walking off the job and onto the picket line. This isn’t just a local dispute; it’s a massive deal. We haven’t seen a major strike at a U.S. beef slaughterhouse on this scale in about 40 years—not since the 1985 Hormel strike.
To put the stakes in perspective, this single facility handles approximately 7% of the total U.S. beef capacity, processing roughly 6,000 cattle every single day. In an industry already reeling from a U.S. cattle population at a 75-year low (roughly 87 million head), any stoppage here is like a heart attack for the supply chain. JBS is already scrambling to bypass the strike by diverting cattle to their other plants, like the one in Cactus, Texas, but the logistics of moving thousands of animals across state lines only adds more "shrink" and fuel costs to the final price of your steak.
The "Just Bull Shit" Factor of JBS (José Batista Sobrinho)
The labor union representing these workers, UFCW Local 7, has a slogan that feels particularly on-brand for this mess: Just Bull Shit. It’s a bit on the nose, but when you look at the conditions, it’s hard to blame them for the sarcasm. Local 7 is a powerhouse, representing 23,000 members across Colorado and Wyoming—everyone from supermarket clerks and cannabis technicians to barbers and healthcare workers.
They aren’t just fighting for a 60-cent raise; they are fighting against a corporate culture that treats humans like disposable machinery.
Imported Labor, Exported Rights
About 80-90% of the Greeley workforce are immigrants, with over 50 languages spoken inside the plant's walls. A significant part of the current tension involves a group of Haitian workers caught in an ongoing legal dispute. The union claims these workers were "lured" to Greeley under false pretenses—promised "the American Dream" via TikTok, only to find themselves in what the union describes as a human trafficking situation.
When you have a workforce this vulnerable, "security" takes on a darker meaning. Union President Kim Cordova and general counsel Matt Shechter have accused JBS management of using ICE as a psychological weapon to break the strike. Leading up to the walkout, the union filed multiple Unfair Labor Practice (ULP) charges, alleging that managers held private meetings with workers, explicitly threatening their legal status if they stepped onto the picket line.
During the strike authorization vote in February, workers reported seeing unmarked white vans circling the DoubleTree hotel where balloting was held. To the workers, these weren't just vans; they were a clear signal that the company was coordinating with federal authorities to keep the "help" in line.
A Rap Sheet the Size of a Texas Brisket
The owners of JBS, the Batista brothers, are "infamous" is an understatement. In 2017, they admitted to bribing over 1,800 politicians in Brazil to secure cheap government loans, which they then used to swallow up U.S. companies like Swift and Pilgrim's Pride. Despite this, they’ve found a warm welcome in U.S. politics. A JBS subsidiary, Pilgrim’s Pride, reportedly donated $5 million to the Trump inaugural campaign—the largest single donation from any company. While U.S. lawmakers tried to block JBS from moving to the New York Stock Exchange last year, the company eventually settled for $280 million in fines for past bribery and was allowed in.
And then there’s the children involved. Just last year, JBS had to pay $4 million because their contractor, Packers Sanitation Services Inc. (PSSI)—owned by the private equity giant Blackstone—was caught using 102 minors to clean dangerous, blood-slicked machinery at night. In the Department of Labor’s investigation, it was discovered that at least three minors suffered serious injuries while working the overnight shift at JBS facilities. JBS claimed they had "no idea" children were in the building at 2:00 AM because the work was outsourced. Apparently, for a company that makes $20 billion in profit a year, a $4 million fine is essentially a 0.02% "tax" on their earnings. In our legal system, that’s considered an "administrative failure" rather than a moral one.
At the end of the day, JBS isn't just betting on the silence of its workers; they are betting on the indifference of the American consumer. We are told to focus on the price of the burger, but rarely are we asked to look at the "blood on the apron" it took to get it there. As beef prices climb toward $10 a pound, we have to ask ourselves: are we paying for a premium product, or are we subsidizing a multi-billion-dollar bribery and trafficking machine?
Support local cattlemen and farmers who bypass the "Big Four" monopoly. Share this story to remind your neighbors that a 60-cent raise and an unmarked van in a parking lot aren't just "business as usual"—they are a corporate choice.
You can reclaim your power by finding local producers through your state's agriculture website or by visiting resources like EatWild or LocalHarvest. If you are here in Tennessee, we have the "Pick Tennessee Products" program, which connects you directly with the source.
You can also visit your local farmers markets; talk with the people raising the meat and ask about their processing.
Your power isn't just in your vote at the ballot box; it is in every dollar you spend at the meat counter. Choose where you "beef" wisely.
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