GREELEY, COLORADO — Workers at the Swift Beef Co. plant in Greeley, Colorado, reached a tentative contract agreement with JBS USA, ending a three-week strike on April 4. The deal includes wage increases over the next two years and a $750 one-time bonus, and the plant will immediately return to normal operations, according to JBS USA.

Thousands of workers at the plant had staged the strike with the United Food and Commercial Workers Local 7 Union to seek higher wages and better health care. The walkout ended after JBS USA agreed to resume negotiations.

The union said the tentative agreement represented a contract with no concessions and numerous improvements. Under the deal, JBS USA will pay for personal protective equipment and workers will be protected against increases in health care costs, according to the union. As part of the agreement, the union will withdraw seven alleged unfair labor practice charges, according to JBS USA.

Local union president Kim Cordova said workers picketed through extreme weather because they knew their worth, refused to be disrespected, and that their sacrifice had been rewarded. "This is what union power looks like," she said.

JBS USA said it was pleased that an agreement had been reached but expressed disappointment that union leadership chose to eliminate pension benefits that were negotiated last year. The company said the pension was designed to strengthen long-term retirement security and argued that the union chose to shift pension dollars into short-term wage increases rather than into the long-term financial future of workers. "With the agreement now finalized, JBS USA looks forward to restoring stability, supporting its workforce, and continuing to invest in the Greeley facility for the future," JBS USA said.

The strike at the Greeley plant was the first at a U.S. slaughterhouse since workers walked out at a Hormel plant in Minnesota in 1985. That earlier strike lasted more than a year and involved violent confrontations between police and protesters. JBS is the world's largest meatpacking company with a market capitalization of $17 billion and is the top employer in Greeley, a city of about 114,000 people located approximately 50 miles northeast of Denver.