GREENFIELD — The end of operations at Kennametal’s plant at the corner of Sanderson and North streets on Tuesday has roughly 45 employees wondering what they’re going to do next.

The corporation headquartered in Pennsylvania announced in January it was shuttering the Greenfield facility, and there are now eight employees left staffing it until the scheduled June 30 closure. The supplier of cutting tools and other industrial materials said its plan is to support long-term stability and competitiveness by significantly reducing structural costs and consolidating its facilities.

A farewell party was held Tuesday afternoon at St. Kazimierz Society in Turners Falls, where employees gathered to support one another over some pizza and chicken wings.

“I was hoping to retire from there, because it’s always been good pay, good benefits,” said Eric Dietz, a thread grinder for Kennametal for 10 years and also a member of the union committee.

Chief Shop Steward Shawn Coates, a fellow union committee member, said employees received one week’s pay for every two years worked. He said the union committee compared severance packages from three other area businesses and learned those businesses give laid-off employees one week’s pay for every year of service.

“So they definitely do their math different than most people,” he said of Kennametal.

“We’re lucky we got anything, actually,” Dietz chimed in. “We tried bargaining with them but they were standing steady.”

Coates, who worked at Kennametal for 36½ years, said the Greenfield plant’s closure means there will be no unionized Kennametal facilities in the U.S.

“This decision ... is in no way a reflection on the dedicated workforce at Greenfield,” Ashlee Parker-Osborne, the company’s business communications director, said in an emailed statement in January. “We are committed to working closely with our local union to support affected employees during this transition.”

Employees slowly trickled into St. Kaz after their shifts ended and commiserated about the plant’s closure. Dietz, who was dismayed that the plant’s history and reputation in Greenfield didn’t earn the workers more generosity from the corporation, said he is interested in working for the railroad.

Some employees said they will explore possibilities with other manufacturing companies, while others are considering earning educational certificates in other fields. One of those is thread grinder Don Connelly, who worked at Kennametal for 10 years and now plans to leave the machining profession.

“It’s going to be pretty tough for a lot of us, especially with the economy the way it is,” he said earlier in the day. “A lot of places are having hiring freezes on right now. So, just, the timing wasn’t real good.”

Like his colleagues, Connelly didn’t mince words about why he thinks the corporation decided to close up shop in Greenfield.

“Kennametal, they had a real love-hate relationship with the union. They liked the work that we did, but they didn’t like the union. And they were trying to kill that union since I started there, 10 years ago,” he said.

Kennametal did not respond to an email requesting comment on Tuesday.

According to the company’s website, Kennametal was founded more than 85 years ago by metallurgist Philip M. McKenna, who created a tungsten-titanium carbide alloy that provided a productivity breakthrough in the machining of steel, enabling customers across industries — from transportation to aerospace — to machine metal at faster rates.

Kennametal bought the 34 Sanderson St. plant in 1997, according to Greenfield Recorder archives. Before the arrival of Kennametal, however, the facility was home to the former Greenfield Tap & Die. According to the Museum of Our Industrial Heritage’s website, the Greenfield Tap & Die Corp. was established in 1912 as a holding company by financier Frederick Payne and F.O. Wells of the Wells Brothers Co. A takeover of Wiley & Russell Manufacturing Co. resulted in the combining of the two large industrial complexes on Meridian and Sanderson streets. This became the world’s largest tap and die firm. Greenfield Tap & Die expanded by buying out most of its local competitors and acquiring other firms for their product lines.

Starting in 1958, the corporation underwent a series of mergers, and ownership and organizational changes. Products that were formerly produced in Greenfield were transferred to other locations. The Meridian Street plant was abandoned in 1992 and all local production was consolidated to the Sanderson Street facility.

Coates said the plant had 500 employees when he started in 1988 and that number was down to about 55 when workers were informed of the closure in January.

Reach Domenic Poli at: dpoli@recorder.com or 413-930-4120.