JBS accused of human trafficking for labor at Greeley meatpacking plant

Photo byteguhyudhatamaonUnsplash

JBS, the world’s biggest meat producer, lured immigrants to work at its meatpacking facility in Greeley with potentially illegal tactics and human trafficking labor violations, a union said Tuesday.

Abuse included recruitment schemes via TikTok; charging immigrant workers for company-provided rent in “squalor conditions,” job applications and transportation; threats against workers and relatives abroad; dangerous production line speeds; and withholding mail including medical bills, the union said.

“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 Kim Cordova, president of the union, United Food and Commercial Workers Local 7.

A hiring manager and an associate who wasn’t directly employed by JBS were involved in the abuses that affected as many as 500 workers from the Caribbean nation of Haiti and the West African country of Benin, the union said.

The union, which represents around 3,300 members at the Greeley-based facility, said it has direct reports of 40 to 50 workers paying between $60 and $120 a week for quarters in a five-bedroom, two-bathroom house in Greeley. Similar housing situations involved a house in Evans and a motel in Greeley, the union said.

The immigrants had to pay $150 per person for transportation to and from Denver International Airport and $40 to $60 per week for a trip of five miles or less for transportation from Greeley to the plant, the union said.

When JBS learned of the “alarming allegations” it banned the non-employee associate from the facility and notified local authorities, JBS spokesperson Nikki Richardson said.

“Since being made aware of this situation, we have put new HR leaders in place at the facility and added new recruitment training programs to ensure our teams follow JBS’ strict hiring compliance policies,” Richardson said.

“JBS does not charge team members or applicants for any pre-employment services, including transportation, application, pre-hire medical requirements or housing, nor do we require them to live in any specific location,” Richardson said. “Any allegations of poor living conditions are unacceptable and upsetting. We want all of our employees to have access to safe housing and the opportunity to create a better life for themselves and their families.”

The allegations come as Brazil-based JBS is planning to list shares in an initial public offering on the New York Stock Exchange.

In 2022, JBS withdrew an offer to buy the remaining shares of Greeley-based Pilgrim's Pride Corp. that it didn’t already own. JBS has a roughly 80% stake in the Colorado chicken processor.