NAMBÉ
Manufacturer lays off 26 workers
Company received letter saying it might be in violation of minimum-wage
law
By Bob Quick The New Mexican
Nambé, one of Santa
Fe’s oldest and largest manufacturers, has laid off its entire polishing department of 26 people but
will continue to cast Nambé ware at its Agua Fría Street
foundry and keep Santa Fe as its
headquarters.
Seven of the workers laid off in Santa
Fe will be hired back at Nambé’s
Española plant, which now employs 65 people, Dan
Hillenbrand, the company’s chief executive officer, said Friday in an
e-mailed statement.
“Nambé expects to increase
the work force at this (Española) facility as it
becomes a focal point for Nambé within New
Mexico,” the statement said.
According to the Santa Fe Chamber of Commerce member
directory, Nambé employs 200 people in Santa
Fe and Española.
Neither Hillenbrand nor Dan Castilleja,
the company’s chief operating officer, was available to answer questions
about the layoffs or the reasons for them.
In the statement, Hillenbrand said: “We compete with
companies all around the world, and to stay competitive ... we need to manage
the increasing costs of doing business. This has resulted in having to make a
very difficult decision, which primarily affects 26 of our employees, and we
are doing everything we can to help them through this transition.”
A spokeswoman for the Employment Security Division of
the Department of Labor said Friday that five of the laid-off Nambé workers had filed for unemployment.
It is unclear whether Hillenbrand’s comment about
“the increasing costs of doing business” refers to the city’s minimum-wage
ordinance, which requires employers with 25 or more workers to pay $9.50 per
hour.
Nambé was one of about 80 Santa
Fe companies that recently received a letter from
the city of Santa Fe stating that
the companies might be in violation of the city’s minimumwage
law. The letters apparently were based on employee complaints to either the
city or the non-profit Santa Fe Living Wage Network.
Carol Oppenheimer of the network said Friday that no
complaint against Nambé originated with her
organization. Assistant City
Attorney Angela “Spence” Pacheco, who was involved in the letters to
businesses inquiring about their compliance with the minimum wage, could not
be reached for comment.
Castilleja said previously
that he was “upset” that Nambé had received the
letter. He added: “We have always complied (with the minimum-wage law). We
pay well above” the minimum wage.
The Employment Security spokeswoman said the last
time she had a job order from Nambé for polishers
at its Santa Fe foundry, the pay
was $10 an hour, and that that was before the city’s minimum wage of $8.50
went into effect in mid-2004.
Nambé produces its original
dining and decorative ware at the Santa Fe
foundry, using an alloy composed of eight metals that are liquefied at high
temperatures and then poured into molds. The plates, bowls and other items
are then polished to a high sheen. Company officials have said previously
that the alloy is sensitive to altitude and humidity, and Santa
Fe is the perfect place to cast it.
“Nambé will continue to
operate our foundry at our Santa Fe
facility, and we do not see any need to make additional changes,” Hillenbrand
said in the statement. “We plan to continue to be headquartered” in Santa
Fe.
In Española, Nambé makes its Studio line of decorative ware at a
facility that also is involved in polishing, shipping and engraving.
The company makes Studio by Nambé,
which is milled rather than cast and is less expensive than the original Nambé ware, in Española in a
20,000-square-foot factory built in the mid-1990s on 15 acres of land. There
was a spirited competition for the new plant between Santa
Fe and Española. A Nambé spokesman said then that the company eventually
wanted to move its foundry to Española as well.
Pauline and Peter Cable started Nambé
in 1953 after they took over a bankrupt foundry. They made only one item,
using an alloy that was later modified to what it is now.
The Hillenbrand family, owners of Hillenbrand
Industries, bought Nambé in 1981. Hillenbrand
Industries makes products used in the health-care and funeral-services
industries. The company’s stock is traded on the New York Stock Exchange.
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