Documentary on the revived Moraine plant

Mooseman

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Dec 4, 2011
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Ottawa, ON
Netflix just released a documentary called American Factory. The old plant where the GMT360's were once built was bought, refit and reopened by Fuyao Glass of China, hiring 2000 locals in the process.

It looks all rainbows and unicorns at first but things start going downhill pretty fast, mostly caused by the cultural and worker rights differences. It ends in a different way than I thought it would but it's predictable. It's crazy how they treat their workers in China. Everything is centered around the company.

And if you're also interested, there is also the HBO documentary of the closing of the plant in 2008.
 
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Reprise

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Just finished watching this (I'd heard about it from other sources; Moose's post was the 'push' that got me to fire up Netflix and watch it.)

In the first 10min, there's a scene with the Fuyao chairman viewing the first vehicle made at the plant, a Chevy S-10. Across from it (but not mentioned) is the white Envoy Denali that was the last vehicle made there (for those wondering from the other post about the 'last one'). There's also a couple of stills shown early on of that Envoy going down the line (with a 'The End' sign that someone had taped to the rear of the truck).

Incidentally, the same people made both movies. So this movie is actually a follow-up of sorts, to the first one (which is available on HBO streaming channels, or Amazon Prime Video, among others, but not Netflix)

I had a running commentary going on this movie, but @Mooseman said it very succinctly -- cultural disparities are a big, big factor in this movie. So I deleted the commentary. But I do recommend watching the movie. You can form your own opinions of it (and maybe we'll all have a discussion afterward.)

Thanks to Moose for the heads-up. :tiphat:
 
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NJTB

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Aug 27, 2012
612
Flemington, NJ
I watched it the other night, and yes, the cultural disparities were amazing.
The scenes in China at the factory where they were interviewing the workers were eye opening. They get 2 days off a month, see their kids every 6 months, work literally like robots-holy shit. I don't think I could have worked like that for any extended period of time when I was 20.
Definitley worth watching.
 
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Mooseman

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Dec 4, 2011
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Ottawa, ON
And the ones that went to the US are.like there for 2 years? Their working rules are bordering on slavery. Seems like that town just can't catch a break.

The Last Truck documentary is really sad to.watch.
 

Reprise

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No extra pay for going to US, either. So... they now have to maintain *two* households on the same salary. But I'll bet many jumped at the chance to come over; for many of them, it was prolly the only chance they'd have to see the US until retirement, maybe.

They were also likely working at least 1 wknd day at the plant; we know mgmt was, and we know they'd be working 6-7 day weeks back in China.

I was shocked that the UAW vote failed, especially by the margin it did. As was mentioned, the younger workers were prolly the reason for that, as the old GM plant workers likely overwhelmingly voted 'for'.

I actually rewatched the first film afterward, and I think I recognized at least a couple of people featured in both films.

As China continues to industrialize, and invest in overseas plants, expect this type of environment to become more prevalent.

I felt sorry for the state / town; they supplied a sh!t ton of incentives, only to see the company hire less than half the promised amount of people (although if you count attrition, they met the total number, I guess.)
 

cornchip

Member
Jan 6, 2013
637
Anybody else feel like kissing your boss Monday morning? Honestly, I don't care for my boss, but after watching this....I might just work a few more hours for him than usual. Anything's better than Fuyao.
 
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Kelly@PCMofNC

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Mar 16, 2013
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I thought it was really interesting - I'm about halfway through it! It was crazy how that one lady (who they interviewed while she was sitting on the stairs) said she went from $29 to $12/hr. Incredibly different workplaces between the two countries...
 

HARDTRAILZ

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Nov 18, 2011
49,665
I tried watching it today and turned it off bout ten minutes in. Just not my type of movie, but maybe I will try again when I feel like reading more.
 

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