• Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Home
  • About
  • Documentaries
  • Books
  • Film
  • Reviews
  • Misc
    • Authors
    • Books by Emilio
      • Scapegoat
      • 35 Miles From Shore
    • Connect
    • Sitemap

Everything Nonfiction

You are here: Home / Documentaries / American Factory Quick Take
American Factory Quick Take

August 22, 2019 By Emilio Leave a Comment

American Factory Quick Take

American Factory Directors Steven Bognar and Julia Rechert
Rating *****

This documentary is jammed pack with relevant content: the decline of factory jobs, culture differences between China and America, an argument for unions, and the role of automation in job replacement.

This is the first film from the Obamas Netflix deal. It’s not political except to point out the many complexities facing world economies and trade deals.

The film starts out with the impact that a GM plant closing has on the workers and the surrounding community of Dayton, Ohio. After eight plus years of blight, hope appears in the form of a Chines automotive glass company called Fuyao. The CEO of the company promises to revitalize the community with jobs. Thousands of workers are hired. They are trained by Chinese employees from a sister plant in China.

The Chinese managers and Fuyao CEO quickly form an impression of American Workers as lazy and hard to manage. The American workers, on the other hand, soon realize that the promised jobs pay only $12 an hour, more than half what they earned with GM. The work is tedious and in some cases unsafe.

To help expedite the training, a number of American workers fly to China to see how the workers there perform the same jobs. This is where the stark differences between China and America stand out. The Chinese employees work 12 hour days with only two days off a month. They work in unsafe conditions. They sing songs about the company and march as if they are in the military as opposed to working for a company.

This is life in a communist country. Children grow up with absentee parents. Workers have no voice. Industry pollutes the air, water, and land with impunity.

I belong to a union. This film shows the important role unions play in a worker’s pay, benefits, and working conditions. Unions give workers a voice.

The answer the Chinese find for their hard to manage American workers is to fire union organizers, then replace as many as possible with automation.

Are you a nonfiction fan? Do you enjoy learning about new nonfiction books, films, and documentaries? If so, I can use your help. Please share the articles posted here on your social media sites. This site averages about thirty unique visitors a day, but the number of followers on Facebook and Twitter are embarrassingly low. So, please help spread the word by liking us on Facebook, following us on Twitter, and sharing these posts with the share buttons below. Thanks.

Share this:

  • Print
  • Email
  • More
  • Facebook
  • Reddit
  • Twitter
  • LinkedIn
  • Tumblr
  • Pinterest

Related

Filed Under: Documentaries, Quick take Tagged With: Fuyao Glass, Julia Rechert, Review of the Netflix documentary American Factory, Steven Bognar

Reader Interactions

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Primary Sidebar

Connect with Everything Nonfiction

  • Facebook
  • Twitter

Fan Page

Fan Page

Get the latest posts

Enter your email address to subscribe to this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

An Incredible True Story!

An intriguing investigative narrative
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cDBxUq1rElo

Recent Posts

  • Review of Murder Among the Mormons
  • All about abstract art
  • Review of Nomadland the film
  • Review of The Pale Faced Lie
  • Review of The Dig

Categories

Archives

35 Miles From Shore

Professional Reader

Copyright © 2021 Emilio Corsetti III Log in

loading Cancel
Post was not sent - check your email addresses!
Email check failed, please try again
Sorry, your blog cannot share posts by email.