The Clash of Workers in ‘American Factory’

American Factory opens with the closing of General Motors (GM) factory in Dayton, Ohio, on December 23, 2008, at the height of the U.S. financial crisis. This closure led to the loss of over 10, 000 local jobs. This incident caused an economic downturn, leading people to lose not only their middle class life but also their hopes and dreams. 

After seven years, the global auto-glass manufacturing company Fuyao Glass America reopened the abandoned G.M. plant and starts to hire local workers. The Fuyao Company is one of the Chinese companies who ramps investment in the U.S. manufacturing industry that started in 2010. The people of Dayton, Ohio revive their sense of hope and give chance for this new opportunity. Aside from hiring the locals, the company also imports Chinese workers to work in Fuyao Glass America. 

The film had its festival premiere at the 2019 Sundance Film Festival. It is distributed by Netflix and is the first film produced by Barack and Michelle Obama’s production company, Higher Ground Productions. It won Best Documentary Feature at the 2020 Academy Awards. 

Steven Bognar and Julia Reichart follow the journey of these workers and how they cope with the changes in the manufacturing industry. This documentary film shows the two contrasting work ethics of the American and Chinese workers. Language barrier, cultural differences and the two countries’ different ideologies add to this heighten tension among the workers. The film avoids politicizing the issues and only focuses on showing the two sides of globalization and how it affects the human workers. 

Chairman Cao Dewang, the owner of the company, reminds his Chinese employees to be good example for the American workers. Because of the xenophobic attitude against the Chinese people, the company and the Chinese workers somehow become diplomats of their country. “The most important thing is not how much money we earn, but how this will change Americans’ view of the Chinese and towards China,” says Chairman Cao. 

The sense of optimism begins to crumble when the American workers realized that they must conform to the Chinese culture of regimentation and submission. The American workers have many complaints like the unfair treatment of workers, their unsafe working environment and not having the right to form a union. These complaints affect the productivity of the workers and the company’s profit. Chairman Cao decides to send his American managers to China to observe the management style of Fuyao China Company. 

At first, the American managers seem bemused and uncomfortable on what they have witnessed. For example, there is a scene where a manager calls his team in a militaristic manner. Fuyao China also has a union but under the management of the communist party. But later on, the American managers understand the company’s management style. “We are one!” declares one of the American managers. They are excited to apply what they have learned to Fuyao Glass America. As the film progresses, not all of the strategies can be applied to the American workers, since they are accustomed to the perks of being a democratic country. The film shows the sacrifices of the Chinese and American workers and let the viewers decide whether it is acceptable or not. It does not judge the workers or the two countries and allows the camera to be just an observer. 

The automotive industry in the United States began in the 1890s and had evolved as the largest in the world. It was overtaken by Japan in the 1980s and subsequently by China in 2008. America did not anticipate the changes that arrived on their shore. During the height of their dominance in the manufacturing industry, they were only complacent and did not imagine that it would have a bitter end. 

China’s “dominance” is unstoppable and continues to invest in many countries around the world. But China’s economic expansion has a downside like environmental degradation, as what Chairman Cao confesses at the later part of the film. 

The Americans think that China’s economic domination is a big threat to them and their country. The film shows how the clash of the workers will be irrelevant since automation or machine workers can replace their jobs. Towards the end of the film, it shows the rise of machine workers doing some of the hard labor that previously done by human workers. It is favorable for Chairman Cao since it increases their productivity and lessens the human labor cost. Automation will disrupt the human labor force in the near future. If a country or a worker will not be prepared for it, it would be difficult for the human workers to adapt to this inevitable change.