UFCW Local 7 condemns JBS for abusing immigrant workers
Largest private sector union in the state calls on federal, state, and local law enforcement and regulatory bodies to hold company accountable
Contact: Elizabeth Battiste, Public Affairs Director
ebattiste@ufcw7.com | 720-362-1925
DENVER, CO–United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) Local 7 today issued a public call for federal, state, and local law enforcement and regulatory bodies to hold the nation’s largest meat processing company and one of the largest food producers across the globe, JBS USA Holdings, Inc., to account in light of potential illegal tactics and labor human trafficking violations uncovered by union representation and advocacy for its members.
“What has happened to these workers, who came to our country legally in search of a better life for themselves and their families, is completely unacceptable,” said UFCW Local 7 President Kim Cordova. “We call on all relevant law enforcement and regulatory agencies to conduct a thorough investigation into the treatment of our members, and we will continue to do everything we can to bring full accountability.”
Information gathered from UFCW Local 7 members who work at the JBS plant in Greeley, outlined in detail below, includes numerous cases of abusive practices both within and outside of the workplace, including management-led human trafficking utilizing the social media platform TikTok; charging immigrant workers for company-provided rent in squalor conditions, job applications, and transportation; threats and intimidation against workers and their families abroad; dangerously high production line speeds; and withholding mail including medical bills and important paperwork.
“We can’t let hateful and fear mongering rhetoric cloud the reality of this situation,” Cordova continued. “These are real people who provide a valuable service for the American people – producing the protein our families rely on – and they deserve to be treated with dignity and respect.”
As many as 500 or more Haitian and Benin workers, who are in the country legally through work visas or asylum, may have been subject to potential crimes and workplace violations, with additional family members of unknown numbers including spouses and children also impacted.
“The company knew about these tactics – and in fact paid for workers to live in squalor conditions at a local motel – and turned a blind eye until they were questioned by the press,” said Cordova. “One of the main individuals involved in this terrible treatment is still employed by JBS.”
UFCW Local 7, which represents around 3,300 members in the Greeley-based facility, reported the conduct to several law enforcement and regulatory bodies, including the U.S. Department of Labor, U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration and Office of Labor-Management Standards, National Labor Relations Board, U.S. Postal Inspector, and both state and federal law enforcement and government officials.
JBS USA Holdings, Inc. owns Swift Beef Company, which operates a grass-fed beef kill and processing operation in Greeley, Colorado. The overwhelming majority of workers at the plant are immigrants, and the plant has historically employed large numbers of Latin American, Horn of Africa, and Myanmar immigrants. Employees at the facility speak over 50 different languages.
UFCW Local 7 represents almost all non-management workers at the plant and, due to turnover, the plant brings in new hire classes each week of approximately 12 to 60 workers, sometimes more. Union-represented staff perform the initial days of classroom training after management hires workers and processes membership applications, which is how the allegations came to light.
In late 2023, UFCW Local 7 noticed an influx of French-speaking African immigrants. By the very end of 2023 and throughout 2024, new hires are now largely Haitian refugees, a vulnerable population that has been unduly targeted across the country. Turnover remains high, but the union believes there are hundreds of Haitian workers at the plant, and it is not uncommon for many to leave within a month of hiring because of the dangerous working conditions due to high line speeds within the facility, threats, and intimidation.
A hiring manager and one or more associates, including Mackenson Remy, who was not directly employed by JBS but was repeatedly permitted to access the Greeley plant, charged significant rent for squalor living conditions to newly-hired immigrant workers. UFCW Local 7 has direct reports of conditions such as 40 to 50 workers sheltered in a 5-bedroom, 2-bathroom home in Greeley each paying between $60 and $120/week for housing. Similar reports of other housing situations include a home in Evans, Colorado and motel in Greeley apparently paid for by JBS. Workers faced threats for non-payment of rent.
Workers were also compelled to pay for transportation to and from the Denver International Airport at a cost of approximately $150 per person, and, for a time, $40-$60 per week for transportation from Greeley to the plant, an approximate five-mile trip from the furthest of the known residences. One worker had to secure legal representation following an injury from a traffic crash while using the services. The JBS hiring manager at the center of this scheme has traveled to West Africa – likely to engage in recruiting.
The exact nature and scope of the conduct varied over time, and information gathered by the union indicates that workers at the Cargill plant in Fort Morgan may have also been impacted. Other allegations against JBS management include:
Recruitment schemes involving individual “businesses” run in connection with the hiring manager using sophisticated internet-based recruiting schemes on the social media platform TikTok.
Indirect reports of kickbacks or other payments for securing jobs at the plant, perhaps as much as $200 just to complete the job application.
Charges of $100 from Remy for workers to “undergo” a company-required (and paid for) pre-employment physical.
Complaints by non-French speakers, particularly Somali and Rohingya immigrants, about the inability to get hired in the past few months if you are not of Haitian or French West African origin. In November 2023, the Somali community leaders expressed these concerns with the plant manager and mentioned the scheme going on in the plant. The union believes there are charges pending with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and/or Colorado Civil Rights Division on the matter.
Management had otherwise ineligible employees sign up for relocation agreements that provide a bonus in exchange for a requirement to remain employed for a set period. The union believes workers, who do not speak English, did not understand what they were being asked to sign.
Waivers of workers’ compensation benefits presented by JBS to these workers after on the job injuries, with workers not understanding what they were being asked to sign. In a recent meeting, potentially as many as 100 individuals indicated they had been asked to waive rights in connection with workplace injuries. The union also believes based on first-hand accounts that at least some of these injuries, including injuries resulting in hospitalization, were not reported to OSHA and/or the Colorado Division of Workers Compensation.
The hiring manager and Remy appear to have control over incoming mail to affected workers, which was reported to OLMS and the US Postal Inspector.
In the past weeks, the union received reports of a “meeting” held by the hiring manager at a soccer field in Greeley where he coerced workers into signing statements that the services he provided were voluntary and otherwise exonerating him. Workers were not paid for attending this meeting or related travel expenses, and the union believes workers were bullied into attending and/or signing paperwork.
At least one retaliatory termination, with grievances over the discharge presently awaiting arbitration and an unfair labor practice charge pending with the National Labor Relations Board.
The hiring manager may have been fraudulently altering hiring documents to collect for himself large hiring bonuses from JBS. According to worker reports, the hiring manager also appeared in at least one of the houses, making threats about individuals failing to pay rent or other sums to himself and/or Remy.
After the union initially reported its suspicions to the company, JBS launched an internal investigation conducted by outside counsel. The investigation appears to have been a whitewash, and the company returned the hiring manager to work in February 2024. Even after an August investigation conducted by the Company, apparently after it was contacted by the Wall Street Journal, human resource supervisor Edmond Ebah remains in the employ of JBS, although he was supposedly transferred to another plant.
After the investigation, the company repeatedly allowed Mackenson Remy to access the plant for unknown purposes – potentially to intimidate workers.
The plant increased production line speed to dangerously unsafe levels when workers occupied the line, leading to OSHA Complaints.
9/25/24 Update: A previous version of this release stated the company charged workers for transportation and has been updated to indicate that according to member reports, the human resources supervisor and associates compelled workers to pay for transportation, not the company directly.
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About UFCW Local 7
United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) Local 7, is the largest private-sector union in Colorado and Wyoming, representing 23,000 members. It is affiliated with the United Food and Commercial Workers International Union which represents over 1.3 million workers in the United States and Canada, one of the largest private-sector Unions in North America. UFCW members work in a wide range of industries, including retail food, food processing, agriculture, retail sales, and health care.
