DENVER — Denver’s sole slaughterhouse, which supplies scores of jobs in one of the city's poorest neighborhoods, is on the chopping block under a proposal that residents will decide this November.
At stake is 160 direct jobs, and, according to one study, at least $215 million in economic benefits, which could be as high as $860 million, counting indirect factors.
A group of activists wants to shut it down, arguing that slaughterhouses are inhumane to workers and calling the industry "one of the worst" in Denver. The group also said meat alternatives are a sufficient replacement to the meat coming out of the plant.
The company and workers countered that employees are treated well at the Denver plant, and one councilmember said he is distressed by what he described as a "wrongheaded" ideological experiment to see if Denver's voters are willing to shut a down the slaughterhouse plant — as a "test case."
Superior farms
Superior Farms, which calls the Globeville and Elyria-Swansea neighborhood home, is one of the largest lamb slaughterhouses and meat processing plants in the country.
> Read the full story at the Denver Gazette.
