Chinese, American workers navigate a difficult future
In 2009, Steven Bognar and Julia Reichert were nominated for an Academy Award for their short documentary The Last Truck: Closing of a GM Plant. The plant in question was the Moraine Assembly plant in Moraine, Ohio, which is a suburb of Dayton.
The directors spoke to hundreds of factory workers who were set to lose their jobs. These workers provided direct, human insight into an unfortunately common occurrence in the United States as more and more manufacturing jobs are lost, never to return.
That is, until they do.
In what seems like a miracle to the workers displaced by the closing of the factory, Moraine is given a second chance in under the auspices of Chinese automotive glass manufacturer Fuyao, a company that holds some 70 percent of the market in the niche industry. Bognar and Reichert’s new film, American Factory, follows up on their original project and documents what is meant to be a marriage of two cultures under one goal—creating a quality product for consumers around the globe.
It appears to be poised to tell an uplifting story about the resurrection of a town and its people, all through cross-cultural acceptance and diversity. This isn’t where the story ends up, though. Instead, the film becomes another warning shot across the bow, showing a potential future not just for American workers, but for workers worldwide.
The film begins with the parting shots of The Last Truck segueing into a job fair/meeting of sorts for the new Fuyao factory opening. An older American man outlines the company, their successes, and the opportunity available for the workers of Moraine and Dayton. One man asks about union representation—he’s told that it’s unwanted.
This in and of itself isn’t suspect, of course. UAW has twice been defeated at Volkswagen here in Chattanooga (American Factory gives some good insight on why that might be as the film progresses) and union power has been in decline for decades in the U.S. The Fuyao company is meant to operate under American leadership, with a few key Chinese workers to assist in getting the plant up and running.
We are treated to several training sessions with these workers, where they are told that they can be themselves in America. They can even insult the President! But as the film moves on, we see that there is a great divide in operations between American management and Chinese expectations.
One glaring example is when Cao Tak Wong, CEO of Fuyao (known more commonly as “The Chairman”) is visiting the offices of his new factory and demands that a fire alarm be moved to a more inconspicuous location and doesn’t seem to understand that American building codes prevent that.
But there are more differences between the Chinese and the American workers than one could imagine. It comes down to the very idea of work. At one point the documentary, several managers visit China to see how things are done there. They experience a work culture that seems almost cult-like, with praise songs for Fuyao, elaborate performances for Fuyao guests, and even a wedding ceremony for Fuyao workers.
Behind this, the filmmakers interview Chinese workers, who work mandatory overtime, get one to two days off a month, and see their children once a year. The Chinese view American weekends and paid overtime as extravagances, as signs of laziness and ineptitude. The American managers wonder at the efficiency they see and gawk at workers sorting through piles of glass without proper safety equipment.
Back home, American workers are clashing with their Chinese supervisors over safety—one Chinese manager explains that Americans are afraid of heat when they complain about regularly working in an environment over 200 degrees. The American managers try to bring some of what they learned in China back to the Moraine plant, but it doesn’t stick.
The workers are making less than half of what they made under GM, where they were represented by the union. The rumbles of unionizing begin in earnest and Fuyao hands out pink slips in response.
The documentary makes an effort not the demonize either side. These approaches toward work are cultural, one created by a country that values individualism and one that values collectivism. It’s left to the audience to assign blame.
The end of the film, however, highlights the real problem for both sets of workers. Automation is coming and many of the jobs, both Chinese and American, will vanish. American Factory might have begun in a hopeful place, but it ends anywhere but. It is a sobering look at what’s coming.