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Netflix Film 'American Factory"

gustafson

Diamond
Joined
Sep 4, 2002
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People's Republic
Worth checking out

At the beginning of the film I was amazed at the lack of automation in such a shiny new factory [spoiler alert they fix that in the end]

A lot of it goes much as you would imagine
 
Worth checking out

At the beginning of the film I was amazed at the lack of automation in such a shiny new factory [spoiler alert they fix that in the end]

A lot of it goes much as you would imagine

I watched it about 6 months ago,

I thought it was really good, super relevant to our times.

Bit of obvious crafting / leading questions and narrative that makes for a more "Constructed" story.

The whole clash of work cultures between Chinese nationals versus Western needs and expectations vs. various skill levels of different workers was super interesting.

And how that was kinda resolved ** - no spoilers.

I've been trying to get "Peeps" that are involved in manufacturing or production to watch it without much success, but maybe not everyone is signed up to Netflix. Or most people not interested / meh/can't be bothered/ don't want to know.


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* On a separate note I'm seeing an increasing number of high tech firms on US soil that are a composite of Chinese and European and US nationals, and funding and board members.

** Although I have to wonder this past couple of years I have had more cracked windscreens on my truck(s) that I ever have before in my life combined ????
 
...Bit of obvious crafting / leading questions and narrative that makes for a more "Constructed" story.
Apparently it was put out by Barack Obama's production company.

Haven't seen it myself, don't intend to...
 
Why don't you watch it, and tell us what you think?
I don't do Netflix, but if it comes up on dish I will watch- assuming it's not interfering with something important like a car race...

Not passing judgement, just providing context.
 
I watched it right after the academy awards. I was disappointed in that the "documentary" did not delve in to the reasons for the closing of the original factory.
Seems to me that was an important part of the story that was conveniently left out.
Rick
 
I actually ended up watching it because you started this thread Gustafson!

I thought it was really interesting. Very sad in a lot of ways. People in that factory are fighting for jobs that they openly admit they struggle to live with (and live on), let alone enjoy... Seems like some of the more technical people liked their work, but people on the line certainly didn't seem to be enjoying their jobs. It looked like very tedious and tiresome work.

The tour of the chinese factory was very interesting. There did seem to be a genuine camaraderie there that looked to be missing in the american factory. Of course it's easy to present these things in a certain light in the edit room, I have no doubt that is at least part of why it seemed that way...

Overall it just struck me as sad all round... Managers were buying into the idea that they were going to make money off this and seemed all too happy to hang their fellows out to dry which is a real shame. The level of union busting going on was incredible, I'm really surprised that's allowed to be honest. I had no idea that 'union avoidance consulting' was a thing beforehand.

They made it very clear they were going to automate away as many people's jobs as they could. It's obvious that's how things are going to go everywhere, but putting in a robot cell and then laying off people immediately is just a horrible foreshadow of the future... We're getting better and better at automation and there's going to be a point when there is simply nowhere for people to go.

We really do need to work out a better way to ensure that the means to earn a living does not keep being further restricted to those who already have capital...
 
The "Tariff wall" is the only answer.....this country was happy ,and productive and prosperous behind the tariff wall.We didnt have to export a billion tons of coal to pay for a plethora of Chinese crap.....and now all the export mines are owned overseas ,the only income they produce is mineral royalties ...coal is the big bogey man of the greens,and here ,state governments are addicted to the income from coal royalties.......funny thing ,for many decades ,coal mining in the Bowen Basin was banned by a Labor government because of the threat it posed to the underground miners jobs in Ipswich ,the cradle of militant unionism in Qld.....Free trade makes multinationals rich,and everyone else poor.
 
Definitely sad to see the unsafe working conditions. Union shouldn't have anything to do with that there is enough OSHA laws in place that should have been corrected. Everyone has the right to go home safe everyday. Not a fan of unions all it does is provide high paying jobs to people needing little more than the ability to roll out of bed everyday. There are plenty of decent paying jobs in this country for someone willing to put in the hard work to learn a skillset. If you make the low skill jobs high paying where is the incentive for anyone to better themselves? If by the time you're middle aged you don't have any marketable skills that's your fault, not your employer's, and not the government's.
 
Definitely sad to see the unsafe working conditions. Union shouldn't have anything to do with that there is enough OSHA laws in place that should have been corrected. Everyone has the right to go home safe everyday. Not a fan of unions all it does is provide high paying jobs to people needing little more than the ability to roll out of bed everyday. There are plenty of decent paying jobs in this country for someone willing to put in the hard work to learn a skillset. If you make the low skill jobs high paying where is the incentive for anyone to better themselves? If by the time you're middle aged you don't have any marketable skills that's your fault, not your employer's, and not the government's.

I agree: Unions are totally unnecessary *if* there are sufficient worker protections in place in federal and state law, both in regards to safety and in regards to income level and income stability. I think it's fairly evident from the film that those protections are currently not strong enough.

Your argument that low skill jobs should stay low paying is core to the income inequality that is building up all over the world. The simple fact is that the minimum wage has not been raised enough to keep it in line with the cost of living. Not in the USA, not in Canada, and I'm sure not in many other places as well.

If you adjust for inflation over the years then minimum wage workers in the USA actually earn *LESS* now than they did in 1960, with the peak minimum wage value being in 1968 - reference: US minimum wage by year

The idea that people in low income jobs should upskill and move into higher paying work is a dangerous one. The idea that anyone "hasn't worked hard enough" or "doesn't have the skills" to earn a living wage is pretty cruel when you think about it a little more. There should be *zero* full-time jobs that do not pay a living wage. If someone is working they are providing value to the company they're working for and they should receive a living wage in return.
 
Starting from nothing, I've worked 50-60+ hours a week while raising a family and putting myself through night school to put myself in a rather favorable situation in life at a relatively young age. Minimum wage jobs are intended for high school/college students and retired people who are bored. It's not that hard to rise above that it just takes a little effort. If you're an adult with kids and your skillset never surpassed "would you like fries with that?" you deserve to live off ramen noodles and take the bus to work.
 








 
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