(Dave Bedard photo)

McDonald’s sues major beef producers in US price-fixing lawsuit

Reuters – McDonald’s has sued JBS, Tyson Foods and other leading meat processing and packing companies for allegedly conspiring for years to limit beef supplies, boosting their profits while causing the fast food giant to pay artificially higher prices. McDonald’s said in a lawsuit filed on Friday in Brooklyn federal court that the meatpackers, also including Cargill





Brazilian union sues JBS over alleged exploitation of chicken workers

Reuters – A Brazilian labour union has accused JBS SA of subjecting dozens of workers to “degrading conditions,” according to a class action suit filed against the world’s biggest meatpacker and its suppliers last week. The union filed the claim on behalf of at least 76 people, including members of the Terena Indigenous community, who


Brazilian meatpacker JBS SA’s logo on a tower in Jundiai, northwest of Sao Paulo in southeastern Brazil, on June 1, 2017. (File photo: Reuters/Paulo Whitaker)

JBS to pay US$25 million in latest beef price-fixing settlement

Settlement calls for co-operation in cases against other defendants

Reuters — JBS SA has agreed to pay US$25 million to commercial beef purchasers that accused the meat-packing company of conspiring with industry rivals to restrict market supply in order to keep prices artificially high. The proposed settlement in Minnesota federal court was disclosed on Friday from plaintiffs’ lawyers representing a class of businesses that

Minority farmers sue U.S. government over repealed debt relief program

Policy was to compensate for decades of discriminatory lending practices

Reuters – Black farmers and other farmers of colour filed a class action lawsuit against the U.S. government on Oct. 12, claiming the recent repeal of a debt relief program that targeted them amounts to a breach of contract by the government. The suit comes as the U.S. Department of Agriculture is set to roll