{"id":65196,"date":"2026-07-07T10:23:48","date_gmt":"2026-07-07T14:23:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ufcw.org\/?post_type=press_releases&p=65196"},"modified":"2026-07-07T10:23:49","modified_gmt":"2026-07-07T14:23:49","slug":"ufcw-comments-on-usdas-plan-to-pay-small-meat-processors-during-livestock-shortage","status":"publish","type":"press_releases","link":"https:\/\/www.ufcw.org\/press-releases\/ufcw-comments-on-usdas-plan-to-pay-small-meat-processors-during-livestock-shortage\/","title":{"rendered":"UFCW Comments on USDA\u2019s Plan to Pay Small Meat Processors During Livestock Shortage"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

WASHINGTON, D.C. \u2013 <\/strong>Today, the United Food and Commercial Workers International Union (UFCW)<\/u><\/a><\/strong>, which represents hundreds of thousands of meatpacking and food processing workers across North America, released a statement in response to the U.S. Department of Agriculture\u2019s (USDA) plan<\/u><\/a> to pay smaller beef processing companies as the industry navigates the smallest cattle herd in decades.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n

\n

UFCW International President Milton Jones<\/strong> said: <\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n

\n

\u201cThe shortage of cattle is being felt across the meatpacking industry by big and small processors alike, and it is costing jobs. Tyson Foods closed its plant in Lexington, Nebraska, putting hundreds of people out of work and leaving a rural area looking for answers. Offering band-aid solutions to only certain processors ignores the underlying problem of a historic livestock shortage that risks the livelihoods of thousands of workers who rely on union meatpacking jobs in their communities.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n

\n

\u201cUnion jobs in meatpacking pay the highest wages in the industry and are at the center of many rural economies. The USDA must help all meat processors during this time by offering a meaningful, long-term solution to herd size, or else more plants will shutter and leave working families without stable union jobs.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n

\n

<\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

WASHINGTON, D.C. \u2013 Today, the United Food and Commercial Workers International Union (UFCW), which represents hundreds of thousands of meatpacking and food processing workers across North America, released a statement in response to the U.S. Department of Agriculture\u2019s (USDA) plan to pay smaller beef processing companies as the industry navigates the smallest cattle herd in decades. UFCW International President […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":436,"featured_media":0,"menu_order":0,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[449,550,13],"tags":[465],"class_list":["post-65196","press_releases","type-press_releases","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-official-statements","category-political-action","category-press-releases","tag-meatpacking-plants"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nUFCW Comments on USDA\u2019s Plan to Pay Small Meat Processors During Livestock Shortage - The United Food & Commercial Workers International Union<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"UFCW Comments on USDA\u2019s Plan to Pay Small Meat Processors During Livestock Shortage\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.ufcw.org\/press-releases\/ufcw-comments-on-usdas-plan-to-pay-small-meat-processors-during-livestock-shortage\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"UFCW Comments on USDA\u2019s Plan to Pay Small Meat Processors During Livestock Shortage - The United Food & Commercial Workers International Union\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"UFCW Comments on USDA\u2019s Plan to Pay Small Meat Processors During Livestock Shortage\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.ufcw.org\/press-releases\/ufcw-comments-on-usdas-plan-to-pay-small-meat-processors-during-livestock-shortage\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"The United Food & Commercial Workers International Union\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-07-07T14:23:49+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ufcw.org\\\/press-releases\\\/ufcw-comments-on-usdas-plan-to-pay-small-meat-processors-during-livestock-shortage\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ufcw.org\\\/press-releases\\\/ufcw-comments-on-usdas-plan-to-pay-small-meat-processors-during-livestock-shortage\\\/\",\"name\":\"UFCW Comments on USDA\u2019s Plan to Pay Small Meat Processors During Livestock Shortage - The United Food & Commercial Workers International Union\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ufcw.org\\\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2026-07-07T14:23:48+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-07-07T14:23:49+00:00\",\"description\":\"UFCW Comments on USDA\u2019s Plan to Pay Small Meat Processors During Livestock Shortage\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ufcw.org\\\/press-releases\\\/ufcw-comments-on-usdas-plan-to-pay-small-meat-processors-during-livestock-shortage\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ufcw.org\\\/press-releases\\\/ufcw-comments-on-usdas-plan-to-pay-small-meat-processors-during-livestock-shortage\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ufcw.org\\\/press-releases\\\/ufcw-comments-on-usdas-plan-to-pay-small-meat-processors-during-livestock-shortage\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ufcw.org\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"UFCW Comments on USDA\u2019s Plan to Pay Small Meat Processors During Livestock Shortage\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ufcw.org\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ufcw.org\\\/\",\"name\":\"The United Food & Commercial Workers International Union\",\"description\":\"Official website of the United Food and Commercial Workers International Union\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ufcw.org\\\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ufcw.org\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ufcw.org\\\/#organization\",\"name\":\"United Food and Commercial Workers International Union\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ufcw.org\\\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ufcw.org\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ufcw.org\\\/wp-content\\\/blogs.dir\\\/61\\\/files\\\/2021\\\/02\\\/UFCW-Americas-Food-and-Retail-Union-2-color.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ufcw.org\\\/wp-content\\\/blogs.dir\\\/61\\\/files\\\/2021\\\/02\\\/UFCW-Americas-Food-and-Retail-Union-2-color.png\",\"width\":415,\"height\":198,\"caption\":\"United Food and Commercial Workers International Union\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ufcw.org\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\"}}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"UFCW Comments on USDA\u2019s Plan to Pay Small Meat Processors During Livestock Shortage - The United Food & Commercial Workers International Union","description":"UFCW Comments on USDA\u2019s Plan to Pay Small Meat Processors During Livestock Shortage","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.ufcw.org\/press-releases\/ufcw-comments-on-usdas-plan-to-pay-small-meat-processors-during-livestock-shortage\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"UFCW Comments on USDA\u2019s Plan to Pay Small Meat Processors During Livestock Shortage - The United Food & Commercial Workers International Union","og_description":"UFCW Comments on USDA\u2019s Plan to Pay Small Meat Processors During Livestock Shortage","og_url":"https:\/\/www.ufcw.org\/press-releases\/ufcw-comments-on-usdas-plan-to-pay-small-meat-processors-during-livestock-shortage\/","og_site_name":"The United Food & Commercial Workers International Union","article_modified_time":"2026-07-07T14:23:49+00:00","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Est. reading time":"1 minute"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.ufcw.org\/press-releases\/ufcw-comments-on-usdas-plan-to-pay-small-meat-processors-during-livestock-shortage\/","url":"https:\/\/www.ufcw.org\/press-releases\/ufcw-comments-on-usdas-plan-to-pay-small-meat-processors-during-livestock-shortage\/","name":"UFCW Comments on USDA\u2019s Plan to Pay Small Meat Processors During Livestock Shortage - The United Food & Commercial Workers International Union","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ufcw.org\/#website"},"datePublished":"2026-07-07T14:23:48+00:00","dateModified":"2026-07-07T14:23:49+00:00","description":"UFCW Comments on USDA\u2019s Plan to Pay Small Meat Processors During Livestock Shortage","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ufcw.org\/press-releases\/ufcw-comments-on-usdas-plan-to-pay-small-meat-processors-during-livestock-shortage\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.ufcw.org\/press-releases\/ufcw-comments-on-usdas-plan-to-pay-small-meat-processors-during-livestock-shortage\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.ufcw.org\/press-releases\/ufcw-comments-on-usdas-plan-to-pay-small-meat-processors-during-livestock-shortage\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.ufcw.org\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"UFCW Comments on USDA\u2019s Plan to Pay Small Meat Processors During Livestock Shortage"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.ufcw.org\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.ufcw.org\/","name":"The United Food & Commercial Workers International Union","description":"Official website of the United Food and Commercial Workers International Union","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ufcw.org\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.ufcw.org\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/www.ufcw.org\/#organization","name":"United Food and Commercial Workers International Union","url":"https:\/\/www.ufcw.org\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.ufcw.org\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.ufcw.org\/wp-content\/blogs.dir\/61\/files\/2021\/02\/UFCW-Americas-Food-and-Retail-Union-2-color.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.ufcw.org\/wp-content\/blogs.dir\/61\/files\/2021\/02\/UFCW-Americas-Food-and-Retail-Union-2-color.png","width":415,"height":198,"caption":"United Food and Commercial Workers International Union"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ufcw.org\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"}}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ufcw.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/press_releases\/65196","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ufcw.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/press_releases"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ufcw.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/press_releases"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ufcw.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/436"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.ufcw.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/press_releases\/65196\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":65197,"href":"https:\/\/www.ufcw.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/press_releases\/65196\/revisions\/65197"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ufcw.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=65196"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ufcw.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=65196"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ufcw.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=65196"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}