American Factory shows one man’s hell is another’s heaven

A Chinese owner upset Ohio factory workers — until they visited their firm’s plant in Fuqing.

Wong He, left, Kenny Taylor and Jarred Gibson in Ohio. Picture: AP

What makes a factory American? A captivating new documentary — directed by Steven Bognar and Julia Reichert, and produced by Barack and Michelle Obama — opens with an unambiguous case.

In Dayton, Ohio, a large General Motors plant had employed 2000 workers assembling SUVs. It closed in 2008, leaving behind a shell of a building and a local unemployment rate that peaked in 2009 at 12.5 per cent.

The factory that opened in its place was also supposed to be American, despite its Chinese owner. The film follows Cao ­Dewang, chairman of the Fuyao group, a Chinese glass manufacturer, as he prowls around his new plant, and advises contractors against putting Chinese ­pictures on the walls. (“When in Rome, do as the Romans do,” he says. “Don’t upset them.”)

He brings in Americans to fill senior management positions. He even invites Sherrod Brown, an Ohio senator, to speak at the building’s opening ceremony.

But tensions quickly emerge. The American workers feel under­appreciated, while their Chinese supervisors are reminded that they need praise. ­“Donkeys like to be touched in the direction their hair grows,” a management coach says, “otherwise, they kick you.”

The Americans are accused of having fat fingers, of being slow and of being afraid of heat. ­Dewang is hostile towards the efforts­ of some employees to ­unionise, threatening to close the plant altogether if they succeed.

The clashes might leave some viewers with the impression that the plant is not very American at all. When profits disappoint, ­Dewang ousts the American managers and replaces them with Chinese ones. Shawnea Rosser, an employee, remembers earning $US29 an hour “and some change” at the GM plant; at Fuyao she earns $US12.84 ($19).

Complaints mount as Chinese management prioritises speed over safety, much to the distress of injured workers and a ­rattled Occupational Safety and Health Administration inspector.

But when workers from Ohio visit Fuyao’s headquarters in ­Fuqing, American ­Factory draws a ­contrast. The Americans watch bemused as a team of Chinese workers number off, military-style, and yell out in unison their ethos of “improvement”, plus a remind­er that “to stand still is to move back”. They look on in ­horror as Chin­ese workers sort large shards of glass without safety goggles or cut-resistant gloves.

The Americans’ eight days off a month (that is, weekends) and eight-hour shifts are dismissed as an easy life. Life in the Fuyao plant in Ohio may not generate the same fond memories as the defunct GM one did, but the gap between them pales in compar­ison with the gulf between the two Fuyao factories now.

Viewers can decide themselves whether they think the Fuyao factory in Ohio is truly American — or they can revel in the film’s complexity and conclude­ there is no right answer­.

Each side of the partnership relies on the other: the workers in the plant depend on Chinese investment­ for their jobs, while Dewang relies on their prod­uctivity for his profit margins.

He explains to his employees that the plant is supposed to change the way America views China. If it fails to do that, perhaps­ it could change the way some Americans see themselves.

American Factory is screening on Netflix.