{"id":26164,"date":"2019-09-03T16:28:25","date_gmt":"2019-09-03T21:28:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.sinclairclarion.com\/home\/?p=26164"},"modified":"2019-09-04T10:45:29","modified_gmt":"2019-09-04T15:45:29","slug":"american-factory-a-rust-belt-revitalization-effort","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.sinclairclarion.com\/home\/tartan-news\/2019\/09\/03\/american-factory-a-rust-belt-revitalization-effort\/","title":{"rendered":"American Factory: A Rust Belt Revitalization Effort"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"has-drop-cap wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cAmerican Factory\u201d the new documentary now streaming on Netflix, based on the re-opening of a former shuttered GM plant in Moraine, Ohio tells the story of the American working class meeting high-tech Chinese industry.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\tWhen Fuyao Glass, a glass manufacturer from the People\u2019s Republic of China set its sights on the former GM plant in Moraine, a suburb on the south side of Dayton, there was genuine excitement among the community.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed-youtube wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<span class=\"embed-youtube\" style=\"text-align:center; display: block;\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" class=\"youtube-player\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/m36QeKOJ2Fc?version=3&#038;rel=1&#038;showsearch=0&#038;showinfo=1&#038;iv_load_policy=1&#038;fs=1&#038;hl=en-US&#038;autohide=2&#038;wmode=transparent\" allowfullscreen=\"true\" style=\"border:0;\" sandbox=\"allow-scripts allow-same-origin allow-popups allow-presentation allow-popups-to-escape-sandbox\"><\/iframe><\/span>\n<\/div><figcaption>The Netflix trailer for &#8220;American Factory,&#8221; the feature length documentary from local filmmakers on the Moraine, Ohio Fuyao factory. (Source: Netflix\/YouTube)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\tBack in 2016, Dayton Daily News called the reopening of the plant \u201cthe world\u2019s biggest automobile glass production plant.\u201d Rightfully so at the time, as the plant, which originally opened in 1921 left almost 1,100 jobs behind at the time of it\u2019s closing in 2008, according to a Vice News interview with the new factory owner, Cao Dewang.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\tMoraine\u2019s Mayor Elaine Allison, along with former Ohio governor John Kasich personally lobbied Dewang to open his factory in the rust belt city, whose factory sat dormant for several years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\t\u201cIt was empty, sixish years,\u201d said Allison in the Vice interview. \u201cPlants growing up in the parking lot&#8211;it looked like an abandoned factory.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\tShe went on to add:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\t\u201cThat was the city of Moraine\u2019s largest employer and the city gets payroll taxes which is how we fund city operations. So, when that dried up, we had to make some serious cutbacks.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\tThis obviously forced the city to hold off on capital improvement projects like paving roads and other infrastructural projects.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\t\u201cWe just had to keep a moratorium to keep the city afloat,\u201d said Allison.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\tAt the time of the factory\u2019s closing, a short film was produced by HBO and made by local filmmakers Steven Bognar and Julia Reichert. The film in question, \u201cThe Last Truck: Closing of a GM Plant\u201d was nominated for an Oscar in 2009.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed-youtube wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<span class=\"embed-youtube\" style=\"text-align:center; display: block;\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" class=\"youtube-player\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/50qSV_F-nAE?version=3&#038;rel=1&#038;showsearch=0&#038;showinfo=1&#038;iv_load_policy=1&#038;fs=1&#038;hl=en-US&#038;autohide=2&#038;wmode=transparent\" allowfullscreen=\"true\" style=\"border:0;\" sandbox=\"allow-scripts allow-same-origin allow-popups allow-presentation allow-popups-to-escape-sandbox\"><\/iframe><\/span>\n<\/div><figcaption>The HBO documentary was nominated for an Oscar back in 2009 and was filmed by Yellow Spring, Ohio natives. (Source: Netflix\/YouTube)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\tTheir new film, \u201cAmerican Factory\u201d which tells of the fight for unionization and for an understanding between Chinese manufacturing and American blue-collar was eventually bought and distributed by Michelle and Barack Obama\u2019s production company Higher Ground Productions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\tAnn Hornaday, critic for the Washington Post commented on the new film stating in her review:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\t\u201cWhat happens when an American labor force grounded in the values of collective bargaining and strong health and safety standards confronts younger colleagues schooled in the discipline and punishing self-denial of China\u2019s command-control form of capitalism?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\tBack in 2017, a vote was posed to unionize after a campaign by United Auto Workers (UAW), which was struck down in Nov. of 2017. Though, recently, three workers who lead that effort were let go, citing their involvement in the push towards unionization as their reason for termination.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\t\u201cFuyao categorically denies that it terminated the three employees at issue for supporting union organizing activities,\u201d the company said in an email to the Dayton Daily News. \u201cRather, the employees were justifiably terminated for violating company policies. While Fuyao believes strongly it would have prevailed in this matter, it elected to settle the charges in 2018 so the company could move forward with focusing on its business operations.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\tThe documentary might\u2019ve covered this, according to Dayton Daily, in an article written Aug. 28.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\tThe scene in question features Fuyao Glass America Chief Executive Jeff Liu, in a subtitled scene explaining to Fuyao founder and Chairman Cho Tak Wong that he had fired union supporters in the plant.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\tBognar had shown this bit to Liu and at the time Liu had expressed no problem with the translation at that time, Reichert and Bognar both affirming that they stand by the Mandarin Chinese translations in the film.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\tThe implications could be bad for Fuyao Glass, as according to the National Labor Relations Act, it is a civil violation to fire workers for an effort to unionize.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\tFuyao\u2019s investment in the Moraine plant was the largest Chinese investment in Ohio\u2019s history. Something long-needed not just for the Dayton metro area, but for various former steel belt communities throughout the midwest and northeast.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\tThe $600 million investment has revitalized a workforce that had been without those blue-collar, middle-class jobs for nearly a decade, many of the workers having a hard time finding work after the GM plant closure.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\tKim Clay, one of the GM workers, who boasted photography and filmmaking credits for the original short film, told Dayton Daily in a 2010 article that he had taken the $70,000 buyout upon the factory\u2019s closure. The buyout was only $40,000 after taxes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\tThough, in two years most of the money had run out and Clay had been ineligible for unemployment due to said buyout. Instead he had reverted to living off of food stamps and hoping for future job opportunities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\t\u201cI see all these reports of jobs coming to the area in five years, but I need a job now,\u201d said Clay. The article went on to explain that other former GM workers had taken their own lives as a result of the job loss and the aftereffects.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed-youtube wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<span class=\"embed-youtube\" style=\"text-align:center; display: block;\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" class=\"youtube-player\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/NRS0YDUf-Yc?version=3&#038;rel=1&#038;showsearch=0&#038;showinfo=1&#038;iv_load_policy=1&#038;fs=1&#038;hl=en-US&#038;autohide=2&#038;wmode=transparent\" allowfullscreen=\"true\" style=\"border:0;\" sandbox=\"allow-scripts allow-same-origin allow-popups allow-presentation allow-popups-to-escape-sandbox\"><\/iframe><\/span>\n<\/div><figcaption>The filmmakers of &#8220;American Factory&#8221; sit down and have a conversation with the Obamas. The Obama&#8217;s production company, Higher Ground Productions, is distributing the film. (Source: Netflix\/YouTube)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\tThe film was released last January at Sundance and has been available to watch on Netflix since Aug. 21. In April it won the Best Documentary Feature at the RiverRun International Film Festival.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\tMike Fullenkamp, a facilities service manager, who was among a group of American workers that took a trip to Fuyao\u2019s headquarters in China, spoke before a screening of the film about the merging of cultures according to Dayton.com<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\t\u201cIt&#8217;s good I think,\u201d Fullenkamp said of Fuyao being the focus of the documentary. \u201cIt&#8217;s going to help other companies learn from our company. It&#8217;s been a challenge for everybody on both sides.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\tDayton Mayor Nan Whaley commented in the same article on the hardships of the blue-collar working class of America.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"> \u201cI hope what I see from the movie is how workers need to organize and they need to come together,\u201d she said. \u201cSadly that doesn&#8217;t happen very much.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Richard Foltz<br><\/strong>Executive Editor<br><\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed-youtube wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<span class=\"embed-youtube\" style=\"text-align:center; display: block;\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" class=\"youtube-player\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/O3MBpIJGObE?version=3&#038;rel=1&#038;showsearch=0&#038;showinfo=1&#038;iv_load_policy=1&#038;fs=1&#038;hl=en-US&#038;autohide=2&#038;wmode=transparent\" allowfullscreen=\"true\" style=\"border:0;\" sandbox=\"allow-scripts allow-same-origin allow-popups allow-presentation allow-popups-to-escape-sandbox\"><\/iframe><\/span>\n<\/div><figcaption>A local news outlet covers the film&#8217;s move to Netflix. (Source: WDTNTV\/YouTube)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The former GM plant, now Fuyao Glass factory in Moraine, Ohio. Source: (Netflix\/YouTube)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10416,"featured_media":26167,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[3432,3522,2110,3,3393],"tags":[3518,3519,1078,1769,2877],"class_list":["post-26164","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-business","category-dayton-news","category-local","category-tartan-news","category-u-s-news","tag-american-factory","tag-gm-plant","tag-moraine","tag-netflix","tag-richard-foltz"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"cc_featured_image_caption":{"caption_text":false,"source_text":false,"source_url":false},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.sinclairclarion.com\/home\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/Screenshot-11.png","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p5s3vR-6O0","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sinclairclarion.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26164","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sinclairclarion.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sinclairclarion.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sinclairclarion.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10416"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sinclairclarion.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=26164"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.sinclairclarion.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26164\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":26171,"href":"https:\/\/www.sinclairclarion.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26164\/revisions\/26171"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sinclairclarion.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/26167"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sinclairclarion.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26164"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sinclairclarion.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=26164"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sinclairclarion.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=26164"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}