Wednesday, March 11, 2020
Week 8 (Post Facto) - American Factory
In the documentary "American Factory," what are some of the challenges posed by contemporary developments in factories run by multinationals? What do the workers at Fuyao Dayton gain or loose by joining this new company? How do the challenges of the American workers reflect those of workers outsourced the world over? How might the ills of outsourced labor effect American labor conditions in the future?
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Something that both the American and Chinese workers at the Fuyao Dayton plant gained was seeing two different kinds of work ethics. Both American and Chinese employees worked hard, they just worked in different ways. Something that was very present throughout the entire documentary was the lack of understanding between the American workers (and management) and the Chinese workers (and management). Both sides had predisposed notions about the other group which caused a massive amount of tension between them. The American workers at the Fuyao plant who had been previously employed at GM did not get as big of a paycheck as they would have received if the GM plant was still open. The challenges that the American workers faced in the documentary give us insight into what workers around the globe who are outsourced. They are made to work for a company whose culture and ideas about workers rights are completely different from their own. They are also made to do strenuous labor for less than half of the pay that they made working for the company that was from their country.
ReplyDeleteSome of the challenges in developing factories that are ran by multinationals are the different regulated rules, such as following guidelines in safety precautions and allowing space for door ways and fire alarms which were issues that came up in the documentary. The workers of the Fuyao Dayton factory gained not only a job in an area that was lacking opportunity, but they also gained new cultural perspectives on both the American and Chinese sides, by learning from one another and working with each other. However, the Americans took a large pay cut compared to when the GM plant was open. The Chinese workers also had to leave their families to work in Dayton. I think both sides of the factory also lost a level of respect for each other, as the Americans and the Chinese held onto their own biases of each other instead of trying to find a better middle ground between one another. The challenges that the American workers have represent other outsourced workers around the world in the ways that they don't have basic worker needs. For example, the Americans Fuyao workers are working in unsafe conditions and not getting paid fairly for the dangerous and strenuous work they were doing, just like the many outsourced workers that are part of other companies who are receiving the same kind of treatment. In the future, if we keep outsourcing labor, Americans will loose their jobs, so companies can pay other people to do the same amount of work for way less like what is already being done but it will be even more. Also, as the documentary showed, there were will be more people loosing their jobs altogether as more and more workers will be replaced with better and more efficient technological replacements.
ReplyDeleteThere were a lot of challenges posed at Fuyou due to language barriers and different cultural expectations that people had. For example, in China it is expected of people to work extremely hard and often work overtime into the weekends. Americans work hard but aren’t used to working to the same extreme. When the Fuyou workers are expected to work long hours and weren’t thanked for their work, the Americans found this to be abusive to their rights whereas the Chinese didn’t see a problem with this. They also weren’t getting paid nearly as much as they were with the old company. The owner of Fuyou also did not care to take the same safety precautions that where regulatory in America. A lot of the Americans wondered if he even knew the laws. For example, a lot of pollutants were being dumped into the stream. As far as language barriers, the owner didn’t speak English so there always had to be a translator. Also, some of the supervisors didn’t speak English very well which made it difficult because a lot of communication is needed to run a factory. Often time there was verbal disputes between the supervisors and workers because of being unable to communicate fluently. The one thing that was possibly gained from working at Fuyou Dayton was that fact that people were able to be exposed to other cultures in a way that they hadn’t before, so they hopefully learned from this. One man in particular became very good friends with one of his Chinese co-workers, and although they didn’t speak the same language, they were able to hangout outside of work. The challenges that were faced as Fuyou Dayton reflect the same challenges that many factory workers face in China. They are overworked, not paid well, and if they decide to speak out against the company then they will more than likely be laid off. Also, if America keep starts using more outsourced labor then there might be less jobs, so people will have to settle for less pay and less than satisfactory working conditions which is what a lot of the American Fuyou Dayton workers seemed to be doing.
ReplyDeleteA major challenge posed by the Fuyou factory created in Dayton is the preconceived notions on both sides, both American and Chinese employees and management. Both cultures had a strong work ethic and were willing to work hard to make the new glass plant work in the Dayton community but there was a different perspective toward how to work between the American and Chinese workers. An example of this is the pre-work routine present in the Chinese factory. When this was implemented in the American factory the employees were relatively unwilling to participate or they did not take it as seriously as the Chinese employees did. These differences arise from a difference in perspective toward the work they will be doing and a difference in seeing the work effort as communal or individual. Another issue comes from, obviously, the language barrier between employees. This seemed to impact the relationship between Chinese leadership upon American workers. When the Chinese leadership would give specific details on how to make work more efficient or effective there small aspects of the instructions lost in translation and caused conflict between the two groups. The American workers gain a new perspective on the work that they are doing and a new appreciation for the Chinese work culture. But, they are losing the benefits they once received from GM. The Chinese workers are gaining the "true" work culture of Americans, because they had the idea that Americans were just lazy, and a chance to hold a leadership position. But, they had to live thousands of miles from their families.
ReplyDeleteThere are many challenges presented by Fuyao Glass moving to Dayton in its first attempt in global manufacturing and marketing. As we saw in the documentary, a lot of these challenges were cultural at first: communication difficulties, misunderstandings of common social practices, and things of the like. Throughout the documentary, it moves through these struggles in an optimistic light. You begin to see the different workers experiencing parts of the other cultures and enjoying themselves, and describing some of their new peers from opposite cultures as their best friends. As the Americans and the Chinese moved past these cultural differences on a social level, it became apparent what the bigger problem was: the cultural difference between the two nation's labor practices. This is where the root of the documentary's climax, the union vote, stems from. The owner of Fuyao doesn't understand why there isn't a profit turnaround, and there is clear issues between the first president of the American branch (an Ohioan) and the CEO, hence why he eventually is fired and replaced with a Chinese-American man who emphasizes the importance of implementing Chinese labor practices, like opting for longer hours and getting rid of lounge spaces. This isn't necessarily eased throughout the course of the documentary. The American workers do get a raise, but it's only by $1/hr, and they're still doing extremely difficult and dangerous work without a union to support them. The documentary makes things clear about outsourced labor in the United States, Americans may need to begin to settle for lower wages, worse working conditions, and less union jobs if American plants continue to be shut down and later psuedo-replaced by Chinese factories. To me, it becomes clear that this is where the American government should step in for the needs and concerns of their people. Whether the federal government does things to keep American factories alive and well, or implements changes to ensure that factory workers regardless of who owns the company are earning a fair and livable wage, changes will need to be made if companies continue to outsource to the United States.
ReplyDeleteAlthough the positioning of Fuyao Glass in an impoverished city like Dayton is a good marketing move to boost global manufacturing, several challenges are also prevalent through cultural and economic instances, which limit the value of globalization. The cultural challenges in the documentary were shown through language barriers between the American workers and the Chinese workers, resulting in communication issues that eventually resorted to animosity. Another cultural challenge that was highlighted was the different laboring styles between the two nationalities. This obstacle henceforth, created a drift between the workers who sought for fair and livable wages and rights to a safe working environment and workers who were conditioned to labor for lower incomes, long hours, and in dangerous conditions. Moreover, this system of exploitation was encouraged and supported by authority figures who benefited from this cultural division and manipulation of the understanding and importance of unions. Although there were singular cases where some American workers had strong connections with the Chinese, majority remained divided where both sides wanted to homogenize the other party into submitting to the work that was relative to their identity, consequentially formulating beliefs that one side was robotic and other was lazy or incapable.
ReplyDeleteAlongside the cultural, the economic challenges also created animosity among the Chinese and American workers, issued through the belief in having unions. The aspect of outsourced labor in multinational factories encourages the acceptance of lower pay for extraneous work highlighting patriotism and the "greater good" as a reasoning. Many Chinese workers were manipulated into accepting this system by their management, formulating this image that the American workers were incompetent in their right to establish unions. This created an economic challenge because the CEO stressed multiple times that if unions were involved then Fuyao had to be shut down, and so led to management resorting to firing American workers in support of unions and having Chinese workers report any misconduct in regards to this stressor. In my opinion, these significant challenges limited the progressions of building an inclusive community among the workers, where if the management had insisted then both parties would've empathized with another's grievances instead of rejecting them, thereby lessening hostility.