30 laid off at NAPI
Navajo Pride flour bags. (Courtesy photo.)
WINDOW ROCK
Employees at the flourmill of Navajo Pride LLC have been laid off, according to Tsosie Lewis, CEO of Navajo Agricultural Products Industry, more commonly known as NAPI.
“The board of directors met last Friday and that shut down was simply because expenses outweigh revenue,” he said.
Lewis couldn’t comment on whether employees were given notice ahead of time but confirmed that there was a “reduction in labor force with intent to rehire flourmill workforce.”
Some employees were let go but others were given the option to be transferred to a different position and it was up to the employee if they wanted to accept or not, according to Lewis.
The mill will be shut down for six to 12 months while the company makes an assessment, he said. The mill housed old and used equipment and that equipment is now obsolete, Lewis said.
Lewis said the management of NAPI had been meeting for a month on what to do. After an audit, the decision was clear.
“Every day we didn’t do anything, it was a costing a lot of money,” Lewis said.
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Highway 264,
I-40, WB @ Winslow