Master Lock closes its plant in Milwaukee after 100 years

After more than 100 years, Master Lock's iconic factory in Milwaukee is shutting its doors in March 2024. The closure will result in 400 lost union jobs, and also mark the end of a former industrial region of the city that once housed some 50 plants. The Real News, In These Times, and Workday Magazine speak with current and former Master Lock workers on what the closure of this longstanding plant means for them and their community.
This video was made in partnership with Workday Magazine, In These Times, and The Real News Network.
Reporting and production by: Isabela Escalona
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[@vacuumelite2065]

Masterlock effed themselves up. Lack of innovation, corporate greed. The two Ladies are hard working and lovely.... I want to give them a hug. 😊

[@Ellfman]

Lockpicking Lawyer on KZbin shows how ineffective most locks are.

[@hellspyro666420]

Locks are meant to keep honest people out mostly

[@glennbrymer4065]

Mostly

[@breakupgoogle4584]

It sucks for the workers, as it always does. Its another corporation that are too focused on their spreadsheets and corpo payroll instead of their quality and innovations. There are videos all over the net showing you how to defeat all their locks so its not like their sales could keep ahead of that greed forever.

[@waltershink6878]

Buy the plant and compete with them! The city might give it to you cheap. Your local credit unions can help support it. If you don't have the expertise you can partner with a community college or state college. Peace love and solidarity!!

[@JohnWilliams-vy2gw]

Yes, but that's not how any of this works.

[@waltershink6878]

@@JohnWilliams-vy2gw doesn't mean it can't work. If you have a way you like better. Great! Keep fighting and don't roll.over. Peace love and solidarity!!

[@deffloyd]

Depressing AF. I hope these folks land on their feet.

[@TheMemo659]

I'm 52. I've watched American business after American business jump the shark like this. Our business model tells a false story of endless growth potential. EVERY business will plateau at some point. An intelligent CEO would leave the cash cow rolling at the top of its game and begin looking for NEW ways to generate revenue under the same brand. We do NOT have intelligent CEOs anymore. What they do instead is begin "cost cutting" to generate false revenue increases after a plateau is reached. This degrades the product and destroys the care and pride employees once had. Once this process begins, the end of the company is INEVITABLE. You cant regain customers who lose faith in your product and you cant repair a broken employee culture once you show your workers they mean nothing to you.

[@stuckinmygarage6220]

👍Truth. White or Blue Collar.

[@kapa1611]

LockPickingLawyer put them out of business xD seriously tho: it's sad :/ the quality of the locks is not gonna get better by getting cheaper labor

[@DougGrinbergs]

0:52 Master Lock parent company Fortune Brands CEO Nicholas Fink made almost $10 million

[@joelhatescops]

What a awesome couple of ladies!

[@lili.h1813]

I agreed ❤

[@Boycott-if4eg]

One of many, many companies that will cease to exist due to the extremely poor choices of the USA government.

[@breakupgoogle4584]

The choices of the government ARE the choices of the corporations. Its not because the government was the source of this collapse.

[@Boycott-if4eg]

Who passed Citizens United? You’re welcome. @@breakupgoogle4584

[@calysagora3615]

So the fact that they produced complete garbage is not to blame?

[@stuckinmygarage6220]

Don't forget the government we voted in

[@Boycott-if4eg]

I didn’t vote these people in. I’m a third party voter! @@stuckinmygarage6220 and I also don’t belong to their lifestyle freak fest of moral misfits either. Did you? If so knock it off 🙏🏻

[@MrBillpops]

Well USA public.... Vote with that Dollar Bill. When big companies self centered CEO’s CFO’s put profits over people it’s time for the public to sell their shares and stop buying their products. Wake them up the only way they know Their pocket book & wallets.

[@pennyalbritton5267]

We the people can stand up to them. Don’t buy there product. Gott to do it before more company’s close

[@rickradix7464]

When teaching people on down the line meant something. Best school in the world. Those ladies have a doctorate in life.

[@chow-chihuang4903]

That’s awful of Master Lock to do that to long-time employees. However, due to their designs, their locks are easily defeated, and it has likely been impacting their sales as awareness spread. Too bad they didn’t invest in improving them to increase reputation and thus sales and margin rather than cutting employees to reduce costs.

[@joerobinson3225]

Stock dividends run counter to reinvestment for product improvement. Upgrading quality would yield the highest revenue stream. Dividends reflect the demands of rent-seeking elites and other big investors. Stock holders who need money can sell shares. Dividends bleed companies of working capital. That’s not capitalism. It’s imperialism.

[@ved2360]

@@joerobinson3225 It's capitalism. Don't lie to yourself. Rewarding the lord _is_ capitalism.

[@p.e.m.4691]

Yeah was surprised myself how easy locks can be circumvented. LockPickingLawyer is one such channel that shows this.

[@MrBillpops]

Taking to the streets in protest & solidarity is great. But these times it will take more. This is devastating on the heals of a very cold hard winter coming up. Thank You TRNN for bringing this to light. Born December 1950 I’ve seen a lot of stupid stuff in the guise of progress only to end up the opposite down the road. Thanks again, William C. Thomas-Azud , Westminster,Md

[@DJPLAST2]

Hey folks, looks like it is time to open some new business’. You all know how to make quality product, you know what goes into it. Continue the quality, and the made in the U.S.A. on the label. Master lock with inferior quality will be your competitor. Pool your resources and continue on! You don’t need to be as big as them, all operations do not need to be under 1 roof. Build the quality into the product.

[@brandonclark8395]

Yep

[@djomegaminus]

Man, if it's such a great idea... why aren't you doing it?

[@DJPLAST2]

@@djomegaminus I will admit I don’t know how to make locks, they have the most important component, they have the knowledge.

[@sdbutlerredux3177]

Nice going, corporate America!

[@yuglesstube]

Obama was such a great orator. So was Trump. Biden not so much, but works on the same basic theme. And all of it hot air.

[@dukstedi]

🎉

[@bluzcompany2293]

Mexico and North Carolina, two of a kind ,super cheap labor , more profit for the top .

[@WillowEtain]

The greed is what is killing this country.

[@ag-om6nr]

What do call Buying cheap Chinese crap to save money ? Greed ?

[@IronmanV5]

When Boeing opened a plant in South Carolina, the quality was so bad that airlines had it written into their sales contract that they would not accept aircraft made there. Who wants to bet that the same will happen to Master Lock?

[@overseeingeye]

Was it from Seattle that quality was still up to spec? I remember reading this article wherein they found TOOLS in the nooks and crannies of assembled aircraft, not sure which plant.

[@IronmanV5]

@@overseeingeye Seattle was still good quality. The unions provided ongoing training to the workers so that they got even better the longer they worked than if they just did their jobs. The tools, tape, etc were from South Carolina.

[@overseeingeye]

@@IronmanV5 No concern for human lives whatsoever…

[@IronmanV5]

@@overseeingeye Just look at what happened to Boeing once they merged with McDonnell Douglas and the MD executives took over. They opened up South Carolina, moved HQ to Chicago, quality started falling. Then we had the 737 Max, and problems with the 777 & 787. Plus problems with the Dreamliner.

[@overseeingeye]

@@IronmanV5 Modern Corporate America…

[@MykolasGilbert]

Listening to these wonderful hard working American Women telling us their story, for me was extremely sad!! I'm getting old and have been retired a good while, and in these years since I've become acutely aware more every day that I don't recognize my Country anymore!! It's not that there wasn't greedy people when I entered the work force, BUT it has taken over everything In America, and that's very sad for the coming generations of young people who may never understand how we once were!!

[@Barracuda48082]

It's been coming a long time, since the late eighties with NAFTA, Took all the great paying jobs over seas for cheap labor, and profits. The customer poses as that, comes to view the work..with notebooks, steno pads, cameras and tape meaures..next thing you see a product near exact and for a third the price. Of course a throw away

[@Doc5thMech]

@@Barracuda48082Actually, I believe when Reagan busted the ATC strike, it was the first signal that the federal government would henceforth support anti-American worker agendas. So, as Eisenhower predicted, the military-industrial complex free massively, with waste, like $700 toilets in the 1960’s when $700 was about one month's pay. American oligarchs, we were born.

[@davewestly307]

@@Barracuda48082 exactly wish I could thumb that up 1 million times

[@OliviaS0904]

I agree. Corporate and shareholder greed is killing America!

[@Carl_Jr]

​@@Barracuda48082NAFTA is the North American Free Trade Agreement. It removed barriers and tariffs amongst trade between Canada, Mexico, and the United States. It has nothing to do with sending jobs overseas.

[@menudobucket9837]

.. maintain their competitiveness into the future? 😂 😂 They just lost a customer and I’ll wager that I won’t be alone..

[@NJ-wb1cz]

Master Lock always depended on cluelessness of their consumers, so this doesn't change much. If you did even the most minimal amount of research, you wouldn't have bought a Master Lock product regardless if this was made in this factory or elsewhere

[@earlestes8649]

Nabiscoe moved the Oreo factory from Michigan to Mexico several years ago, and I refuse to ever buy them anymore

[@rjung_ch]

Greed from the shareholders or the mentality of top management? Disgusting really. It's happened before and it will happen again.

[@Audiogeek-kf2ez]

I will never buy anything from MasterCard longer, time to buy European. , if they want low way employees, they can have the shit market. I will buy from companies that treat their employees right

[@Doc5thMech]

It’s not like Master lock has devised smart ways to improve its product, in spite of its product becoming successfully unlocked with precious little need for sophisticated tools.

[@screenarts]

Corporate greed. If they can hire someone for a penny less.

[@calysagora3615]

It would be great if they made a product that did what it's supposed to. Unfortunately master"locks" are not locks at all, they are dummy replicas that open as easily as a door knob. Placeholders for real locks at best. ABUS, ASSA and Abloy are laughing their asses of.

[@johnsmith-bk4ps]

It’s called free trade. Why don’t you give them a job?

[@whatsupcoolbrother]

We can blame corporations and we should, but our government is complicit too. They don’t fight for the employer to stay. But the job wasn’t literally shipped to Mexico. The government could step in with a loan to secure the means of production and put the workers back to work as competitors and ask the people who would you rather buy from?

[@Barracuda48082]

Anyone with quality control experience would balk..

[@calysagora3615]

Government and their stolen taxtortion loot should stay out of business entirely. Actually it should be abolished entirely.

[@cooprdog3793]

I thought we didn't want the government to pick winners in losers? The company went under due to poor management... Why is that the government's fault?

[@fishinghuntingfool]

Sorry but that capitalism for you,and its not about the workers! This is what this government does.

[@cooprdog3793]

@@fishinghuntingfool how is the government to blame for the actions of a private company?

[@MrIkon12izzy]

A simple KZbin video makes any of their products obsolete anyway

[@skygh]

I'm a locksmith and Master locks are largely junk. Sad to see them continue to make bad decisions with peoples lives.This is another huge mistake for this greedy company. It would be a shame if people quit buying their products

[@GizmoGuy21]

Have not bought any lately, but I have 2 Masterlocks that have been on the door of my trailer, out in the weather since 1985. They still work.

[@theredboneking]

Trusting China for supplying us with farm equipment parts worked wonders while we had a container shortage. Outsourcing has turned into a National thread.

[@overseeingeye]

Mexico this time? Not China?

[@overseeingeye]

@SaintFluffySnow That's right, I forgot about that. Russian Petrochemicals go to India, then to Europe. Chinese goods go to Mexico, then to U.S.A. The additional cost for the added middlemen is shouldered by the European and American public. Makes perfect sense.

[@overseeingeye]

@SaintFluffySnow Yes. Only American prejudice maligns Chinese products as inferior - truth is, Americans companies spec their orders at that level of poor quality and that’s all JimBob sees as Walmart.

[@earlestes8649]

@@overseeingeye I’m a handyman and I’m sick of putting together some of these products because the screws used to put them together usually strip out before you can even get them together. But I will say that the last couple years or so they have been getting better

[@overseeingeye]

@@earlestes8649 Products in horrible spec approved and imported by Americans to sell to fellow Americans. Walmart Syndrome. The Chinese never forced us to import garbage at gunpoint…

[@steelmill]

Another American company bites the dust.Do you see what's happening in your country

[@barrettm.9918]

Well, Master is just one more brand to add to my do not buy list, due to scumbag corporate sleeze decisions.

[@dukstedi]

doesn’t help that their locks are easily picked

[@ExtinctPterodactyl]

It’s back to peasantry and feudalism

[@glennjames7107]

I feel ya'll's pain, In the small town that I live in the only work that pays enough to live off of was a paper mill that has been here since 1951 and they closed it down earlier this month. The town I live in is where the most recent hurricane that hit the big bend of Florida made landfall as a category 3. The paper mill only slowed production during the hurricane ( in other words people had to go to work), then as the community was trying to get a handle on the damage came an announcement in the local paper. It had been approximately a week when they released the news that they would be shutting the plant down permanently. Our whole county relied on that mill for 90% of the economy, with all of the business that are here to serve the paper mill depending on it as their sole provider. It really sucks

[@GScully42]

They already make bad locks, so good by. I hope the workers make it though.

[@earlestes8649]

😞 sad these companies are all about how much they can earn for their shareholders. Instead of employees, yes I know that unions are part of the problem also. And our representatives selling us out for free trade, instead of trying to help keep our jobs here!

[@cbx500cbx]

Share holders are part of the problem too.

[@dj4monie]

It's a race to the bottom. Davos 2021 "You will own nothing and love it." Instead of raising all boats for real they rather make escape goats (Unions) and blame workers for their "greed" while the majority of Americans who aren't in Unions and go, what more do they do want? When Bush had basically nothing to say to that woman who was working three jobs while raising children. Mexico has a deep poverty problem as well don't forget that. That is why the push for UBI is more important than ever so people can then focus going after these companies, buy them out and setup co-op's. That is the only way out of this mess.

[@calysagora3615]

That's government corporate law for you.

[@Brett_S_420]

When this happens, the workers should have the option to buy out the company with a low-interest, government-backed loan. Let them vote turning it into a employee-owned co-op.

[@Tore_Lund]

Lockpicking Lawyer finally made enough aware of their crappy padlocks.

[@autumngrace8541]

"All I wanna say is, they don't really care about us"- Michael Jackson

[@calysagora3615]

... Or making quality products. Note how companies making locks that actually locks things are not having these problems. Master Lock makes absolute garbage.

[@1erinjames]

"Made in America" is not made in America and it does NOT mean the same thing as "Made In The USA"!!

[@lesliesimmons1773]

These workers deserve better. Shame on Master Lock. Disgusting.

[@calysagora3615]

Why? They work for the manufacturer of the most garbage locks on the market. Master Lock absolutely NEEDS to be removed from the market. This is GREAT news for America. Keep production of garbage elsewhere.

[@gidgetgurl23]

@@calysagora3615 Did you watch the video? The workers gave decades of their life to this company, and now they’re just being tossed away so that Master Lock can save money and exploit non-union workers. You should be angry about that, because if you think that the quality of Master Lock is bad now, it’s just going to get worse. So what locks do you use? explain yourself. Are you in the business? Do you use their locks for work? Context is awesome.

[@RyanHarris77]

Out of all of the major lock manufacturers, their locks are the easiest to defeat, and they have earned the reputation as being a joke. It has been this way for years and nothing has changed, so this is absolutely no surprise. The industry blew right past them.

[@p.e.m.4691]

This is what was threatened during the auto workers strike. Companies are going to be proactive in protecting their bottom line and it is too easy for them to move their operations outside of our borders (and not, N.C.) to places ripe with individuals to exploit.

[@waltergoring8428]

The purpose of companies is to generate profits for owners. The people who actually do the work are only a means to that end. The company found some even bigger suckers somewhere else they can skim surplus value off of.

[@saar144]

The LPL brought them down

[@pennyalbritton5267]

That’s the only type lock I have bought. The only ones I buy I’m 60 years old sad to see hope I won’t need many more

[@crecheshaw]

😮...this is a big deal.

[@lynnwood7205]

Ah hell, in the future we will get to watch our politicians rant about the deplorable Artificial Intelligence who wouldn't learn to code voting against them as they are interviewed within their luxurious compounds inside the english speaking enclave redoubts of Richistan scattered across the Spanglish speaking North America managed by the Mandarin speaking apparatchiks who route communications to english as a second language and spanish as a tertiary language call centers in South Asia. "They just did not want to work and the increase in the cost of wages was drive inflation.""

[@natehine8541]

boycott Master Lock

[@Barracuda48082]

Another piece of history gone to poo. I guess start buying Yale, Slayer, Schlaag, Regal, Too bad. Master dates back to my Schwinn bije days..would not buy any other...now, my service van locks are Master but the machining tolerances are horrid so sloppy. I still bought the Master brand instead of the import brand.

[@robertward8035]

Don't buy masterlock.

[@richardbently7236]

Thank you Lockpicking Lawyer.

[@redtidepeoms2987]

Simple answer, the tax break to be a front expired and it’s back to basic “outsourcing jobs.” Cooperation a main reason for the weakening and lost of production work made I. America. They encourage us go to school get a diploma for these jobs. By getting the diploma we will get a higher pay but cooperate would rather send the job overseas which pays much less for workers. These cooperate companies also have stakes in the local colleges also😂

[@lordlee6473]

No innovations, failure of the management and executives. Bicycle lock alone could’ve made them a fortune

[@dennisc6716]

Perhaps the Lock Picking Lawyer can get that plant opened back up. He never seems to have any problem with getting their locks to open.

[@mikesuch9021]

I still don't understand how somebody from Somalia born in Somalia was voted into the white house.

[@carolyncoder2178]

I hate these greedy corporations in the ununited states. They did this to my husband in the 80's. Sent his job to mexico. It is one of the shames of this country and there are many.

[@rogerbec5766]

Here in the South, we had no unions and we're still working to our last breath with no health insurance or pensions. Sorry for what you all going through.

[@OliviaS0904]

Your southern state...is it run by Republicans? If so, stop voting them into office because Republicans hate employee benefits and love Big Corporate campaign cash. That may be why you have no union representation, no health care insurance, and no pension or 401(K) plans. It's despicable to treat human beings in such a greedy "we don't care about you" attitude toward their employees!

[@Czund]

Companies do not love people. People are necessary or they would never use people.

[@theb8257]

I feel for y'all. I and others lost our job in 1995 when Lockheed closed the plant in Texas. Best job I ever had and with IAM union.

[@framer4ever]

I won't be buying master lock anymore

[@dukstedi]

well they are terrible locks apparently

[@hudson8865]

Won't be buying these anymore

[@stephaniecarrow4898]

Didn't the UAW just win a major contract for auto workers? Why did they leave these workers behind? (On a side note, both ladies are lovely, and the one in the flowery top reminds me of the actress Esther Rolle, from the TV show with John Amos and the dyno-mite guy.)

[@surlyogre1476]

_Good Times_ ?

[@stuckinmygarage6220]

I c yr point. Not to argue, but I'm not certain the "wins" in Michigan will last long term. Let's hope.

[@realtijuana5998]

Fink by name and Fink by nature.

[@nucleargrizzly1776]

Between a union and the far far left political climate I'm surprised that they didn't leave years ago.

[@robertbernard6410]

when you make a crappy product, this is what you get. look at the American car industry, the sold us crap for years until the Japanese came to town.

[@djomegaminus]

I want to feel as though "The Lock Picking Lawyer" had something to do with this.

[@evangelicalsnever-lie9792]

Master Locks are really a joke though, after Lock Picking Lawyer era.

[@kevincourtney7312]

1. Competing with cheap foreign made products. 2. Taxes too high. Local politicians see a company like this as a cash cow. Tax, tax, tax. 3. EPA strangulation. Too many regulations, most are nonsense. 4. Union demands are unreasonable. My friend worked at the St Paul, Mn Ford plant. You were not allowed to clean up your work area, had to wait for a janitor. You couldn't do anything except for your job title so when things backed up on one end of the plant, workers from the other end couldn't be brought over to assist, not their yob mon. It all adds up. And one last thing, "Revenue" is cash flow in total, not profits. Revenue minus costs is profit. They are B.S.ing you intentionally when they say revenue because profits are only a part of the revenue.

[@vooteimer1234]

Same headid for car manufacturers. Thnx UAW

[@tettazwo9865]

Hopefully they will lock up with better locks than theirs.

[@msm-u3g]

Sad

[@publicutility]

Vampire capitalism. Not new.

[@publicutility]

The American Tobacco Company was founded in 1890. In the late 1960s, with health concerns seen as posing an increasing threat to the tobacco business, management decided to diversify into other fields and changed the corporate name to American Brands, Inc. Brown & Williamson acquired the tobacco division in 1994. Fortune Brands was a holding company founded in 1969 as American Brands, renamed in 1997 and split apart in 2011.

[@crazedgoldminner7384]

Well I hope the next upcoming Lock company does real well because I'll never buy another Master Lock

[@pincermovement72]

I’m British and have 3 Masterlocks that have given sterling reliability, this story comes as no surprise to me it has happened all over my country , outsourcing and greed of shareholders has destroyed any good jobs . Another company on my boycott list .

[@rodhelms-yt2pk]

They are crap lock, easy to open

[@Aceman597]

Way to go biden

[@ArthurTheLibraryDetective]

🤐🤔🙂🕵😎..UAW.. ??? 🤷

[@cheddarboyzz313]

I traveled to Juarez Mexico 2006 on a Maytag acquisition and it was shocking almost every company you can think of has a Facilty right across the border paying Mexican $6 per day…. Capitalism & Greed = Conservative Republican gave them the Green Light

[@breakupgoogle4584]

Conservative republicans? This is neo-liberalsim which includes both of the fake parties. Both of the parties are pro wrestling theater and the servants of corporations.

[@earlestes8649]

Yeah right it’s not only the republicans what a stupid comment. They are all selling us out

[@Cyrus992]

Dems signed many of the trade deals too

[@LA_Commander]

Don't forget Democrat Bill Clinton is the one who passed NAFTA

[@bobcrnich1676]

Wtf!!!

[@Hands2HealNow]

Whst a damn shame!

[@samlyons3552]

How many workers bought their own stock ( ? ) Union vs company always ends the same.......Give stock options to loyal workers !

[@IMEMINE.]

Back in the day as a kid growing up in Milwaukee, I remember losing a key to a master lock. I sent an envelope with the request and the number of my lock and within a week they sent me a set of keys no questions asked God I miss the old days.

[@spikeprotien9023]

Champion spark plug left Toledo Ohio years ago for Mexico. Now their once leading brand is nothing.

[@freedomfighter4990]

WTAF?! These are UAW workers. The UAW just negotiated contracts that give the Big 3 auto workers the right to STRIKE if a plant gets shut down. Get Shawn Fain down there & do something to help those Masterlock employees! I can't believe she's 70-yrs-old & still working, just waiting for them to shut down her plant. I'll bet she doesn't even have a pension.

[@muzic4lyfe2005]

Wonderful ladies you fuys found....you can really see clearly how they put their heart in there and how hurt they are are....its not just about the money for them

[@BouncingTribbles]

That's the last masterlock I ever buy, lol, the locks sucked anyways. The best locks only stop honest thieves, and these weren't the best

[@fishinghuntingfool]

I will Never buy another thing from this company!

[@Carl_Jr]

If they love the job that much they could just move to North Carolina with the company.

[@Jon6429]

Sad but folk knew this was coming over a decade ago, amazed they held out this long.

[@Karma-wy7xv]

I feel for them. Corporate profits greed is strong.

[@ike780]

Solution. When master lock sells out, don't buy it.

[@Turdfergusen382]

Love is not a commodity. Would you leave me if I didn’t make what I do now?

[@1fan164]

How are you going to sell a product that priced out of the market??

[@dukstedi]

McNally proved masterlock is trash

[@tsukeisawa7786]

I guess the question is what is the Union doing about it?

[@skibee50]

So sorry this is happening

[@danielhealy9725]

I won't buy another one.

[@uncleshamus3451]

Your making me cry