The Master Lock manufacturing plant in Milwaukee, Wisconsin is being shut down after the organization told employees a phased closure of the facility would begin October 31, 2022, according to The Guardian. Operations at the plant will reportedly halt by March 2024.

Employees claim that their jobs will be sent abroad to Mexico and China where the company houses other manufacturing facilities. More than 400 jobs will reportedly be lost following the plant shutdown, including 330 positions held by individuals represented by the United Auto Workers (UAW) Local 469 union.

In a statement released when the plant closure was announced in October, Master Lock said the decision will serve as “an opportunity to continue to enhance our supply chain resilience, maximize potential growth of the business and maintain our competitiveness into the future.”

“This must have been in the works for several years at a minimum because you cannot pick up the operation we have, where we make literally millions of parts a day, and just plop it somewhere else without a lot of work,” said Mike Bink, president of UAW Local 469. “We’re in the poorest area of Milwaukee, the vast majority of our people running that equipment are from Milwaukee. There aren’t a lot of jobs that they can go to that will come close to replacing that income and benefit level, and we’re dealing with a corporation where that is just not a consideration.”