After three weeks on the picket line, 3,800 workers at the JBS meatpacking plant in Greeley, Colorado, are returning to work. But this is no victory for labor. While the United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) Local 7 prepares for a new round of negotiations, JBS USA has already begun its pivot to 'Automated Sovereignty.'

The strike, which successfully idled one of the largest beef plants in the country, has been used by management as a proof-of-concept for robotic butchery. While workers fought for liveable wages and basic safety equipment, JBS executives were busy accelerating the deployment of robotic platforms designed to eliminate the human element entirely. The company’s focus isn't on settling the dispute; it's on ensuring they never have to negotiate with a human being again. This is the mechanism of the modern economy: use the strike as an excuse to purge the proletariat. The workers are returning to a plant that is actively planning their obsolescence.