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More than 3,000 meatpacking workers in Greeley, Colorado, have been on strike since mid-March, the first major labor strike in the U.S. meatpacking industry since 1985. Workers at JBS USA, the U.S. subsidiary of Brazilian-based multinational JBS, are protesting unfair and dangerous labor conditions, including low wages, lack of personal protective gear and discrimination against its majority-immigrant workforce. “This company is one of the richest companies in the world, and the wage increases that they’re offering simply just don’t keep up with the economy and the high cost of living,” says Kim Cordova, president of the union that represents JBS workers in Greeley. “These workers literally feed America,” adds organizer Caitlyn Clark, director at the labor rights nonprofit Essential Workers for Democracy. “This is really a historic strike. These workers are standing up not just for their own plant, but the meatpacking industry as a whole.”

This is a rush transcript. Copy may not be in its final form.

AMY GOODMAN: This is Democracy Now!, democracynow.org. I’m Amy Goodman.

In Greeley, Colorado, more than 3,800 meatpacking workers are in the third week of a strike. It’s the first major strike in the meatpacking industry in 40 years. The workers are protesting unfair and dangerous labor conditions at JBS USA, the world’s largest food producer. The Greeley facility processes 6,000 head of cattle a day. United Food and Commercial Workers Local 7 members have been fighting for wage increases that take into consideration rising healthcare costs and requiring the company to pay for lifesaving personal protective equipment — that’s PPE — like metal aprons that protect workers from cutting themselves. Currently, the workers must pay for their own equipment. It comes out of their own salaries.

For more, we’re joined by two guests. In Greeley, we’re joined by Kim Cordova, president of UFCW Local 7, representing the JBS workers. And here in New York, Caitlyn Clark, director at Essential Workers for Democracy.

Dispatch From a Meatpacking Factory: “If We Unite as Workers, We Have the Power”

Let’s go to Greeley first. Kim, if you can start off by........

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