Solidarity with Haitian and all workers at JBS!
The vast majority of the 3,800 workers who successfully struck the JBS meatpacking plant in Greeley, Colorado, on March 16 were immigrants from Haiti, Mexico, Somalia and Myanmar (formerly Burma). These United Food and Commercial Workers Local 7 members protested bad, unsafe working conditions and demanded better treatment, health care and wages. The company threatened firings if workers struck and/or refused to quit the union.
Haitian workers at JBS learning how to vote in union election.
This majority migrant workforce stayed strong and won a contract with benefits.
Those from Haiti numbered 1,000. The courage of these workers cannot be stressed enough. They risked repression by the Trump administration, which has targeted Haitian migrants with the worst racist attacks, and they stayed resolute despite threats of Immigration Customs and Enforcement detention and deportation. And they risked retaliation by the JBS bosses, as did all strikers.
The Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for 350,000 Haitian immigrants, though extended, is still unclear. A federal judge blocked its termination set for Feb. 3 by the Department of Homeland Security. Due to mass pressure, the House of Representatives passed a bill on April 16 continuing TPS for Haitians until April 2029. It is now headed to the Senate, where it faces an uphill battle. If passed, it would require the signature of the president, a vociferous opponent of TPS status for Haitians.This matter is expected to go to the U.S. Supreme Court within weeks.
Yet still the JBS Haitian workers fight on. In December 2025, a group of them filed a still ongoing lawsuit against JBS for discrimination, for subjecting them to worse treatment than non-Haitian workers receive. The legal case, being brought by Farmstand, accuses the company of systemic exploitation of Haitian workers. (farmstand.org)
The lawsuit cites the company for constantly assigning Haitian workers to night shifts; deliberately increasing speeds on the lines to dangerous levels, resulting in serious injuries; raising factory temperatures to 100 degrees; inadequate bathroom breaks; subpar, overcrowded, dirty housing and more. These workers are demanding an end to racist treatment at work, dignity and respect.
Their struggle continues. Victory to Haitian and all JBS workers!
