A new contract between the United Food and Commercial Workers International Union and one of the world’s largest meat companies establishes a pension plan — the first new defined-benefit retirement fund in the industry since 1986.

The contract, which has been ratified, covers 26,000 workers at 14 JBS beef and pork processing facilities in the United States. In addition to the pension plan, it creates a paid sick leave program, increases wages and implements new safety measures.

“This contract, everything that was achieved, really starts to paint the picture of what everybody would like to have: long-term stable jobs that are a benefit for the employees, a benefit for the employers and a benefit for the community they operate in,” said Mark Lauritsen, the head of the union’s meatpacking and food processing division.

Pension plans were standard in the industry until the 1980s, when they were cut as companies consolidated, Lauritsen said. Large meat companies like Tyson Foods and Cargill offer 401(k) plans instead, he said.

“Everything now is very expensive and it’s hard to save money for retirement, so this gives us security,” said Thelma Cruz, a union steward at a JBS pork plant in Iowa.