“A group of 20 Indians armed with high-power rifles took over the plant, demanding that Fairchild rehire the employees.”
Fairchild opened its Shiprock plant in 1965 where Navajo unemployment ran at 65% and per-capita income was $300. It grew to 1,200 workers, all but 24 of them Navajo, and monthly turnover fell from 12% to under 1%. In February 1975 Fairchild laid off 140 of them, and after the occupation it closed the plant for good. Intel later commissioned a Navajo rug of a Pentium die as a gift. The chip industry likes Navajo craftsmanship more than Navajo payrolls.