GREELEY, Colo. — Members of the United Food and Commercial Workers Local 7 (UFCW7) labor union ratified a two-year agreement with JBS Sunday, following a three-week strike at the company's Greeley plant.

The agreement was ratified by 93% of the union members who work at JBS.

Workers will receive a 70-cent increase in their hourly wage, starting now, with two additional wage increases scheduled for July of this year and July of next year.

The deal also includes two bonuses, with one paid now and the other next April.

"This strike was historic," UFCW President Kim Cordova explained. "This is the first strike here in Colorado with JBS, and there has not been a strike in the packing industry for over 40 years."

Throughout the negotiation process, the union and workers said they wanted proper equipment in addition to wage increases.

"I see a lot of members that they get equipment, sometimes that it's already used and like, it's not new," JBS employee Leticia Avalos told Denver7 on March 12. "They'll sometimes charge them as well. And they charge them like the full price, like if it was a brand new equipment."

Cordova said JBS will now pay for personal protective equipment and reimburse workers for any PPE they previously bought.

"The workers that went on strike, this was a matter of life and death for them," Cordovoa told Denver7's Tyler Melito. "This was their safety, this is their livelihood, their health care."

Dr. Kishore Kulkarni, a professor of economics at Metropolitan State University (MSU) of Denver, said getting those protections does not have a major impact in a negotiation like this.

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JBS workers previously on strike agree to ratify agreement with company

"They don't want workers to be hurt on the job anyway, and therefore the cost of that is there, but it's not really that significant," Kulkarni outlined.

Workers returned to work on April 7 before the deal was agreed to.

JBS stood firm that its last, best, and final offer would be the one presented to workers.

"Without any major changes to the company’s offer, and the final agreement remains entirely within the economic framework JBS USA presented months ago. Instead, UFCW Local 7 opted to reallocate pension contributions to wages," JBS said in a statement released after the deal was approved.

Cordova disputed the company's claim regarding the pension.

"I saw JBS statement where they said local seven gave up an historic pension. We never had a pension plan here, not since 1993," Cordova detailed. "It was local seven that proposed a pension benefit. The company countered with what they offered other local unions around the country, but they offered a pension plan to also secure low wage increases and to shift the cost of health care onto employees across the country, and that was not going to happen here."

Kulkarni said reallocating money is not uncommon in labor negotiations.

"All companies have their different ways of expressing how they want to repay the workers," Kulkarni explained.

In Denver7's previous reporting, we shared how the union accused JBS of unfair labor practices.

"As part of the agreement, Local 7 is also withdrawing seven alleged unfair labor practice (ULP) charges—further underscoring that this was a strike about the economics of the deal, not to stop ULPs as the union repeatedly claimed," JBS added in its statement.

Cordova however pushed back on the company's assertion.

"We did not agree to withdraw two labor charges. And one was, there was one of our bargaining committee members were was terminated, and we did not agree to withdraw that charge, as well as the charge over retro pay. So they offered their non union folks retro pay while they took retro pay from us," Cordova said.

While the union will not be at the negotiating table for two years, Cordova said the work is not done fighting for workers' rights. The union is supporting SB26-160, proposed by Colorado Senator Robert Rodriguez, D-District 32. The bill, introduced on Friday, would prohibit employers from making deductions from wages or compensation for PPE.

As for the beef industry as a whole, Kulkarni said the strike ending a new worker agreement will be good for consumers, despite the war in Iran.

"With this agreement, the prices will be stabilized," Kulkarini outlined. "Your guess is as good as mine, for how long? Because, as I said, big shock is coming. It appears that it is coming unless we again, we do not talk too much about the war."

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