BROOKLYN, Ohio -- It's a battle that hundreds of worker faced just four years ago. Now the 170 employees who still work at Hugo Boss in Brooklyn are facing that fight again.
This week, the high-end fashion company again announced that it would close the Ohio plant, and this time the decision may stick.
At 1 p.m. Tuesday, Brooklyn Mayor Richard Balbier received official notification from the company that it would be shutting down the facility.
In a letter, Hugo Boss said "the company has decided to move operations outside of the United States."
The company will "permanently lay off all or most" of the the employees with what it calls comprehensive severance packages.
Balbier says he was "caught completely by surprise," and that the company gave no warning to the city.
This comes just four years after the company previously threatened to move operations to Turkey.
Actor Danny Glover even got involved, traveling to Ohio to fight for the workers.
FROM 2010: Union, company agree to save Hugo Boss plant
"We're going to say 'No more.' That's what these workers are saying," Glover said during a 2010 protest. "These courageous men and women stood up and said, 'No more. We believe that we deserve to be treated justly.' "
The company and workers eventually hammered out a deal, with the employees taking pay cuts.
That contract is expiring at the end of April.
The factory currently makes the fashion line's men's suits.
While some of these suits sell for $1,000-plus, workers at the plant typically make between $9 and $12 per hour.
Hugo Boss plans to phase out operations over the next few months with an April 30 deadline as the final shutdown date.
In an email, Rep. Marcy Kaptur wrote, "The workers at Hugo Boss have already been through a great deal, but they have proven their value to the company time and again. I urge the corporate officials to reconsider and prevent great hardship for hundreds of people in our community."
Though the plant was saved once, chances are that won't happen again.
That leaves 170 Northeast Ohioans with a very uncertain future.
