By Patricia Campos-Medina
Patricia Campos-Medina, a policy expert on workplace and labor issues at Cornell University, says the meatpacking industry is marked by high levels of productivity, yet workers have not seen their wages increase or health care benefits improve.
Campos-Medina says:
“The meatpacking industry has a history of dangerous working conditions improved only by worker organizing and union demands for increased OSHA inspections of its facilities. The union demands for affordable healthcare and more protections under OSHA regulations continue a pattern seen since the COVID-19 pandemic, when the dangerous working conditions revealed a pattern of disregard for worker safety at meatpacking facilities spurring a growth in union activity by the UFCW.
“Currently, pressures driven by President Trump's tariffs and trade wars have increased the cost of beef, while the domestic policy of immigration enforcement has disrupted the flow of immigrant labor. Swift Beef Co. is owned by JBS USA, a publicly traded Brazilian-owned company that went public in June of 2025. Investor pressure to increase profits has put worker's demand for better wages at odds with the company's goal to elevate its profit margins by undercutting wages and production costs.”
Source : cornell.edu