By Patrick Thomas

The local union for thousands of beef processing plant workers in Colorado reached a new labor agreement with JBS, the world's largest meat company, a week after employees agreed to return to work following a three-week strike.

The local union chapter representing 3,800 workers at the Greeley, Colo., beef plant went on strike March 16, seeking higher wages and other workplace changes. The strike was the largest at a U.S. meat-processing plant in decades. Employees returned to work last week. The two sides announced the new pact on Sunday.

The Greeley beef plant can slaughter about 6,000 cattle a day, representing roughly 5% of U.S. beef-processing capacity. JBS, the largest beef processor in the U.S., said the new labor deal, which runs through April 2028, is mostly the same as the one it presented to the union months ago.

"The strike ultimately ended without any major changes to the company's offer," JBS said in a statement. "The strike at Greeley could have been avoided."

The local chapter of the United Food and Commercial Workers International Union said the new deal includes numerous improvements and no concessions. "This tentative agreement is a testament to the incredible resolve of our members at the JBS Greeley plant," said Kim Cordova, the local's president.

Terms of the new deal include an immediate $0.70-per-hour base wage increase, plus $0.40-per-hour increases in both 2026 and 2027. Pay at the Greeley facility begins at $23.25 per hour, with an average of $26 per hour, according to JBS.

The union said that 93% of its members ratified the Sunday deal. The pact defends workers against increases in healthcare costs and protects employees from paying for certain protective equipment that they wear to do their jobs, the union said.

The national union last year agreed to a new long-term labor contract covering about 26,000 JBS workers across more than a dozen of the company's U.S. beef and pork facilities. It also provided meatpacking workers with a pension plan for the first time in decades. The UFCW local in Greeley opted out of that deal at the time.

JBS said Sunday that the Greeley local chose not to sign on to the broader pension plan as part of its new labor agreement. The funds set aside for the Greeley workers' pensions were instead shifted to wage increases, JBS said.

JBS largely weathered the three-week labor disruption at one of the largest beef plants in the U.S. Executives said the plant has enough workers crossing the picket line to run a partial shift during parts of the strike.

The company was also able to shift cattle deliveries to its other large U.S. processing facilities, which weren't operating at full capacity before the strike due to a nationwide cattle shortage that's been driving up beef prices for American consumers.

Write to Patrick Thomas at patrick.thomas@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

April 12, 2026 20:34 ET (00:34 GMT)

Copyright (c) 2026 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.