Nearly 4,000 Colorado workers at one of the country’s largest meatpacking plants began a strike Monday over wages, working conditions and “unlawful union busting” by the plant’s corporate owner.

Members of United Food and Commercial Workers Local 7 voted nearly unanimously last month to authorize the so-called unfair labor practices strike. The union has been in talks with JBS on a new collective bargaining contract since a previous four-year agreement expired in July.

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“For months now, JBS has been insisting on poverty-level wages for workers at the plant, offering less than 2 percent in average annual wage increases, far below the level of inflation in Colorado, while at the same time putting all the risk of rising healthcare costs on workers,” UFCW Local 7 President Kim Cordova said in a press release.

The Greeley walkout is believed to be the largest strike at a U.S. meatpacking facility in decades. UFCW Local 7 said that it had offered to meet with company representatives over the weekend to avert a strike, but the company refused.

JBS did not immediately respond to a request for comment Monday. A multinational company based in Brazil, it maintains its U.S. corporate headquarters in Greeley, and its sprawling meatpacking facility there is one of the largest in the country, accounting for roughly 5 percent of U.S. beef-processing capacity.

Workers say the company has created dangerous working conditions by increasing processing speeds while cutting worker hours and failing to provide “life-saving personal protective equipment.” The union also alleges that the company has violated federal labor laws by refusing to bargain in good faith and retaliating against union members.

“We want to be treated like human beings. We will not be intimidated, retaliated against, or suffer in silence,” Deborah Rodarte, a worker at the Greeley plant, said in a statement. “We work very hard, in difficult conditions, and want JBS to negotiate fairly for a contract that will allow us to live with dignity. We will stand together on the picket line until JBS recognizes our value and treats us fairly.”

UFCW Local 7 say they plan for the unfair labor practices strike to last two weeks.