About 200 workers at a Denver meat processing plant voted to allow a strike on Saturday, according to the workers’ union.
The workers, who are members of the United Food and Commercial Workers Local 7 union, have been negotiating a new union contract with factory owner JBS USA since early September and voted unanimously on Saturday to authorize a strike against what they qualify as unfair labor practices, according to a statement from the union.
Denver Processing is a meatpacking plant located on Yuma Street in the Valverde neighborhood of the city. According to the union, workers process beef and pork that are destined for “large grocers across the state.”
Local union president Kim Cordova did not immediately return a request for comment on Sunday and it was unclear when the authorized strike could begin. In a statement, Cordova accused Denver Processing of “unilaterally changing workplace policies that were not negotiated.”
“Denver Processing Plant management and its JBS management must end unfair labor practices and come to the table with proposals for a cutting-edge agreement that honors these workers,” she said in the press release. “If they don’t, the workers told us loud and clear, they’re good to go.”
A JBS spokesperson did not immediately return a request for comment on Sunday.
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