Labor organizations speak out as Master Lock plans to close north side Milwaukee plant

Laborers at Milwaukee Master Lock on Wednesday learned that the company would close the plant and outsource 330 jobs, according to the United Auto Workers (UAW) Region 4.

Master Lock will close its Milwaukee operations at the end of March 2024 and will transition its manufacturing operations to “other North American and global manufacturing operations,” a company spokesperson told The Daily Reporter.

The company will work with UAW Local #469 to support its displaced workers and ensure a smooth transition, the spokesperson added.

The company told its workers their jobs would be outsourced starting in the fall, UAW Region 4 officials said in a Facebook post.

Region 4 officials said to keep an eye on the space and support its fellow union members at UAW Local #469.

The Milwaukee Area Labor Council, affiliated with the AFL-CIO, announced it would support workers at Master Lock who were told the plant would shut down in less than a year.

“The Labor council stands to assist Local #469 in any way we possibly can. We want to keep manufacturing in Milwaukee,” MALC President Pam Fendt told The Daily Reporter.

Former U.S. President Barack Obama toured the plant in 2012.

Master Lock was founded in 1921.