Haitian Workers Defy Deportation, Vote 99% to Strike JBS
Interview with journalist Ted Genoways
On the latest episode of the Rick Smith Show, journalist Ted Genoways details the heroic defiance of nearly 4,000 Haitian meatpacking workers at JBS’s Greeley, Colorado plant. Facing Trump administration threats to revoke Temporary Protected Status for 350,000 Haitians, stayed by a last-minute court ruling on February 2, 2026, they voted overwhelmingly on February 4 to authorize a strike.
Night shift workers, mostly Haitian, endure line speeds of 370-440 cattle heads per hour, far exceeding day shifts’ 300 causing rampant repetitive stress injuries, cuts, amputations, and dull knives from no sharpening time. OSHA logs confirm severe injury spikes. Recruited with false promises of good wages, free housing, and skilled jobs, many allege trafficking into squalor. JBS, Brazilian owned, faces dismissed NLRB complaints (under Trump appointees), class-action suits for retaliation, wage theft, unsafe PPE fees, and speedups.
UFCW Local 7 President Kim Cordova demands JBS negotiate or face a full walkout. Workers, risking ICE raids despite Supreme Court deportation precedents (e.g., Venezuelans), draw resolve from Minneapolis cases targeting even legal residents. “We came to a democratic country to vote,” they say, betting skilled, dangerous jobs deter scabs. Rick compares possabilities to Birmingham’s civil rights turning point, urging solidarity strikes and general action.
Trump probes JBS for underpaying white cattle ranchers but ignores immigrant pleas, while lifting Brazilian beef tariffs post CEO lobbying. Genoways highlights the supply chain hypocrisy. Republican complaints get action and workers of color get silence.
After 15 years covering meatpacking, Genoways felt palpable courage in the voting room. Fleeing Haitian violence for TPS, workers trust American decency won’t allow mass deportation to death. “Every generation must find solidarity,” Rick concludes. Will this spark nationwide labor resurgence?
Read Genoways at Mother Jones and FERN.org—share your thoughts below.