DENVER — Eleven of the nation’s largest red meat companies and their subsidiaries are being accused of conspiring to fix and depress employee wages.

The companies named in the lawsuit that allegedly consipired include JBS USA, Cargill, Hormel Foods Corp., American Foods Group LLC, Triumph Foods LLC, Seaboard Foods LLC, National Beef Packing Co. LLC, Iowa Premium LLC, Smithfield Foods Inc., Perdue Farms Inc., Washington Beef LLC and Agri Beef Co., along with consulting companies Agri Stats Inc. and Weber, Meng, Sahl and Co. The lawsuit goes on to name Tyson Foods Inc. and Kraft Heinz Co. as co-conspirators.

Collectively, these processors control 80% of the US red meat market with more than 140 packing plants across the nation. The suit accuses them of violating the Sherman Antitrust Act since at least 2014 with the help of consulting companies to exchange sensitive compensation data.

The plaintiffs claim the “Defendants implemented, monitored, and enforced their conspiracy to fix and depress compensation paid to Class Members through a series of overt acts,” which included secret compensation surveys, annual meetings, direct communications among executives, data exchange via Agri Stats and no poach agreements.

On behalf of all employees, the plaintiffs, who include Ron Brown, former Smithfield employee; Minka Garmon, former National Beef employee; and Jessie Croft, former Iowa Premium employee, are seeking compensation through a trial by jury.