Oscar-winning ‘American Factory’ leads to scrutiny of Chinese-owned Dayton-area factory The Columbus Dispatch Published 9:26 AM EST Feb 27, 2020 The documentary film "American Factory" tells the tale of Americans and Chinese trying to work side-by-side in an automotive glass factory that was once General Motors Moraine Assembly plant in Ohio. Ian Cook Federal and state officials are reacting to possibly illegal treatment of workers in a Chinese-owned factory in the Dayton area that was exposed in the Academy Award-winning documentary “American Factory." The National Labor Relations Board has opened an investigation in response to sequences in the film in which Chinese officials with Fuyao Glass America appear to discuss firing American workers for trying to unionize — a likely violation of the National Labor Relations Act. Also, JobsOhio, Ohio’s publicly funded economic developer, disowned a statement it issued celebrating the 2017 defeat of an attempt by the United Auto Workers to organize workers in the Moraine plant, which previously had been used by General Motors. And Gov. Mike DeWine might consider action against Fuyao — the recipient of almost $10 million in state tax subsidies — depending on the outcome of the federal investigation. Unions are thought by some scholars to be an effective counterweight to exploding income inequality. But the controversy sparked by “American Factory” highlights difficulties that unions face in a globalizing economy and what unions see as a growing government bias against them. “The plight of the workers at Fuyao is no different than the plight of workers in different parts of the country,” said Brian Rothenberg, the UAW’s director of public relations. “It’s really hard right now for workers to stick their necks out.” Yellow Springs-based filmmakers Julia Reichart and Steven Bognar made the Netflix film as the first project of Barack and Michelle Obama’s Higher Ground Productions. Earlier this month, it won the Oscar for best documentary. (L-R) Julia Reichert, Lindsay Utz, Steven Bognar, Jeff Reichert and Julie Parker Benello accept the Documentary – Feature – award for ‘American Factory’ onstage during the 92nd Annual Academy Awards at Dolby Theatre on February 09, 2020 in Hollywood, California. Kevin Winter, Getty Images Previously, Reichart and Bognar made “The Last Truck,” which documented the plight of more than 2,000 GM workers as the Moraine Assembly Plant, which closed just before Christmas 2008 as the financial markets were melting down and GM and Chrysler were on the verge of bankruptcy. In 2014, as Fuyao founder Cao Dewang(Cho Tak Wong is another name he goes by and DDN uses it) started glass-making operations in the same plant, he granted the flimmakers almost-unfettered access and creative control over the project, Reichart said last week during a talk at Ohio State University’s Wexner Center for the Arts. Over the next three years, Dewang didn’t waver from that commitment, despite the cultural and business clashes that ensued, she said. “He never took that back,” Reichert said. “He never said, ‘Look, you’ve been here a year. Aren’t you done yet?’ He was good to his word, and I respect that a lot in people.” Documentary "American Factory." Netflix Some of the conversations captured in the documentary appear to be damning. In one, according to the English subtitles of a conversation in Mandarin, Dewang says he will close the plant if the unionization effort is successful. In another, Jeff Liu, Fuyao’s U.S. president, briefs Dewang on efforts to keep out the UAW, saying that “a lot” of union supporters had already been fired. Liu told the Dayton Daily News that his quotes were “misleading and incomplete.” The filmmakers stood behind the translation, and Dewang later congratulated Bognar and Reichart on their Oscar. Such threats — much less firings — are violations of the law. Fuyao has had dozens of complaints filed against it by employees in Moraine and at its plant in Decatur, Illinois, in the years leading up to the documentary’s release, and the company paid more than $100,000 to the NLRB and three employees. It also paid $1.3 million to employees after being sued over scheduling and working conditions. The company also has faced more than $700,000 in fines imposed by the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration, the Daily News reported. Then, on Aug. 22 — a day after Netflix’s release of “American Factory” in the United States — the NLRB opened another investigation into whether Fuyao had improperly coerced its employees. In the wake of the November 2017 defeat of the union drive, JobsOhio issued a document that seemed to crow about it. It said that as a startup, Fuyao was “vulnerable” to organization and that the UAW “benefited from the significant cultural and communications gap between many Chinese workers and the (Fuyao) workforce.” Fuyao officials, who couldn’t be reached for comment for this story, had paid entry-level employees $12 an hour, but bumped that up to $14.50 in advance of the union vote. As the unionization election approached, the movie shows consultants hired by the company predicting a dire future for employees if they unionized. In its press release, JobsOhio praised Fuyao’s “proactive approach in meeting with and listening to employees as the vote neared. (Fuyao) engaged in a fact-based campaign to educate employees on the reality of union representation and debunked the fiction that an outside party could better represent the best interests of employees than could a direct relationship with the company.” The document was titled “Ohio Success: Fuyao Glass America Inc.” JobsOhio spokesman Matt Englehart said in an email that the press release, which was published over a 2018 copyright, “is a draft that should not have been posted to our website. We do not endorse the language that was posted and will remove the content.” Englehart added that his entity was agnostic on whether workplaces should unionize. “JobsOhio works to attract jobs and investment to Ohio from companies regardless of if they have a union or not,” he said. “Notably, Ohio’s automotive workforce — which is the most skilled and productive in the country — includes thousands of workers who belong to unions.” U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown appears in “American Factory,” speaking at the grand opening of the Fuyao plant and encouraging employees to unionize if they wished. Dave Burrows, at the time a Fuyao executive, is next shown profanely and violently condemning the Ohio Democrat for the statement. In an interview last week, Brown said he has no hard feelings toward Burrows, but he also slammed JobsOhio and the state’s Republican leadership, saying they are anti-labor. “We have a state government and a president of the United States that betray workers every single day,” Brown said. “They celebrate the defeat of unions. They tilt the playing field away from union organizing. Workers should be able to form a union if they want to, and that’s sort of become not the American way in this state.” DeWine’s office was asked whether, in light of the starting pay that Fuyao offers and the revelations in “American Factory,” the company should continue to enjoy $10 million in taxpayer support. “It would be premature to comment if any action will be taken until the NLRB investigation is complete,” press secretary Dan Tierney said. This report is from the Columbus Dispatch, part of the USAToday network Published 9:26 AM EST Feb 27, 2020

Sourced through Scoop.it from: www.cincinnati.com

Some of the largest unions in the US are asking the Federal Trade Commission to open an investigation into anticompetitive behavior by Amazon. The unions have filed a formal, 28-page petition with the FTC, hoping to urge the agency to take action.

Sourced through Scoop.it from: www.theverge.com

The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) recently announced new rules for representation case procedures that will come as welcome news to employers.  Many of the changes revise the 2014 Obama-era Board’s so-called “quickie” election rules, which imposed tight procedural deadlines and compressed…

Sourced through Scoop.it from: hrdailyadvisor.blr.com

Sourced through Scoop.it from: consent.yahoo.com

The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) tightened up the definition of “joint employer” in a final rule announced Feb. 25….

Sourced through Scoop.it from: www.shrm.org

Suing parent companies whose franchisees are involved in labor law violations just got harder.The National Labor Relations Board Tuesday reversed the Obama Administration’s 2015 ruling that had considered parent companies "joint employers," often holding them responsible when workers accused……

Sourced through Scoop.it from: www.fastcasual.com

Supermarket says shoppers are buying fewer loaves and opting for wraps and bagels instead…

Sourced through Scoop.it from: www.theguardian.com

Your Local News Network serving London, Windsor, Chatham, Sarnia and Midwestern Ontario…

Sourced through Scoop.it from: blackburnnews.com

A labor union is trying to prevent Telkom SA SOC Ltd.from continuing with a plan to cut as much as 20% of its workforce to cope with falling sales in its……

Sourced through Scoop.it from: mybroadband.co.za

General Assembly staffers can’t legally unionize, says organization helping them unionize The News Journal Published 5:09 PM EST Feb 24, 2020 The public employees union that has been working with Delaware General Assembly staffers in their organizing effort now says those staffers can’t legally form a union. AFSCME Council 81 is citing a recent letter to its executive director, Mike Begatto. In the letter, the law firm hired to evaluate the union effort says that there is not "a successful path available for the union." Legislative staff are "exempt from classified service, thus raising a question about whether the Public Employment Relations Board could ever establish a bargaining obligation for the General Assembly," reads the Feb. 19 letter from Philadelphia-based law firm O’Donoghue & O’Donoghue. Even if they were able to find a way "past this hurdle," the letter says, there is a "clear separations of powers issue" and "we would be asking the judicial branch to impose a requirement upon the legislative branch through the executive branch." "It simply does not make sense to pursue an organizing effort because of the restrictions set forth in the law," the letter says. Legislative staffers announced intent to unionize on Jan. 14, the first day of the 2020 legislative session. The effort was spearheaded by Democratic staffers, whose bosses make up the majority of the General Assembly and usually enjoy the support of state unions during elections. "We’re quite happy that we have people out there with that zealous attitude and the attempts to organize," Begatto said on Monday. "Unfortunately, the law does not allow us a path forward for them." It’s unclear whether the staffers will keep trying to organize. In an emailed statement on Friday evening, organizers said they received the letter on Thursday. The staffers behind the union’s email and the Twitter accounts remain unidentified. INTIMIDATION CITED: Democratic lawmakers clash with group attempting to unionize in General Assembly "AFSCME Council 81 and their legal counsel repeatedly assured us that we had the legal right and ability to organize and promised us legal protections afforded to all organizing workers under the law," the General Assembly Union email said. "Now that we are in the early stages of the process that was laid out for us, they appear to be withdrawing that support." Delaware Legislative Hall, Dover Getty Images The union email also said AFSCME’s "assurances" were a "key part" of the group’s decision to organize. "That they would have a different legal opinion now than during the several months leading up to our announcement is disappointing and dangerous for everyone involved," the union email said. AMAZON IS COMING TO NEWPORT: Delaware gives $4.5 million to bring Amazon to former Newport auto plant When asked if he has seen the union’s Friday statement, Begatto said, "I’m not going to banter back and forth with them or anyone else through the newspapers. … They wanted another meeting, so we’ll give them the opportunity to sit with us again so we can re-explain exactly what we found and why we had to send this letter to them." Lawmakers work out of Legislative Hall in Dover during the 2020 session. Jenna Miller/Delaware News Journal The bargaining unit is about 45 people, according to one staffer who asked to remain anonymous for fear of retaliation from senior staff and lawmakers. When announcing the effort on Twitter, organizers claimed the union would be the first of its kind in the country because it was "partisan-inclusive." Sarah Gamard covers government and politics for Delaware Online/The News Journal. You can reach her at (302) 324-2281 or sgamard@delawareonline.com. You can also follow her on Twitter @SarahGamard. Published 5:09 PM EST Feb 24, 2020

Sourced through Scoop.it from: www.delawareonline.com