MILWAUKEE — The United Auto Workers union rallied in solidarity behind Master Lock employees who are expected to lose their jobs.
This comes nearly a week after Master Lock announced it would shut down its manufacturing facility in Milwaukee. That move would displace more than 300 workers.
At the demonstration Wednesday, Yolanda Nathan held a sign that said, “We Deserve Better.” She has worked for Master Lock for 19 years
Nathan said she couldn’t believe it when the company announced it would be leaving Milwaukee.
“We were told we were doing great and then just told that, ‘That’s not good enough and we’re leaving.’ It was devastating. Not just to me, but to every employee that works here,” said Nathan.
That’s why Nathan said she joined other Master Lock and union employees in a solidarity rally outside the Master Lock manufacturing plant Wednesday.
She will soon take on the role of president for UAW Local 469, which represents Master Lock employees.
Nathan said they want answers as to why the company wants to leave.
“It would have a big impact on my family. We would have to start over. I might not be on the first shift. My son, he is used to me being home when he gets home from school and I would have to change shifts and have to go out to a different area to look for a job. It’s going to be hard on my family,” she said.
Andrew Stark, the service rep for UAW Region 4, explained the group’s main goal in organizing the rally is convincing Master Lock to stay in Milwaukee.
Stark also said he believes losing union jobs would be detrimental to the community.
“As these union jobs, like Master Lock, leave, the ability for workers to have a voice at the table diminishes and ultimately gets silenced so companies decide what these workers are worth. They decide what their benefits are instead of being an equal at the table and working towards that decision together,” said Stark.
Nathan said Master Lock has been a good company to work for. She said the job has put her and her coworkers in a better position to help their city.
“Every year we do Christmas with Santa, where we buy coats and hats and gloves and we donate toys and everything for the community. We [help] the Boys and Girls Club. We go out. We clean the neighborhood up. We do a lot for this community and the community would miss Master Lock employees if we left this community,” said Nathan.
Nathan said she hopes Master Lock sticks to the family-oriented roots it was founded on more than 100 years ago.
For her, that means that it’s not all about profit; it’s about family.
A Master Lock spokesperson issued the following statement in regards to the rally:
“We understand and appreciate the emotion reflected in the rally around the hard decision to discontinue operations here. This decision was not reached without fully appreciating the impact it could have on our employees, their families, and the community. Our commitment is to work hard to minimize that impact, meeting with the union leaders representing our employees, our non-represented staff, and community leaders as we begin the transition. We are approaching this recent development as we have with our teams in the past, committed to transparency, honesty, and empathy.”