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Cao Dewang defends anti-union stance after Netflix’s American Factory

Inkstone

發布於 2019年09月16日16:09

The Chinese billionaire featured in the Netflix documentary American Factory has defended his country's labor practices by criticizing unions, saying they hurt efficiency.

In China, American Factory prompted a wave of soul-searching about the human costs of the country's economic success and the rise of super-rich entrepreneurs such as Cao Dewang, who owns factories at home and abroad.

The film, backed by Barack and Michelle Obama, documents what happens at two factories owned by Cao " one in Dayton, Ohio and the other in Fujian, southeastern China.

Cao is a main character of the documentary, in which he comes across as a pragmatic Chinese businessman bringing jobs to America's Rust Belt.

In Ohio, Cao's company Fuyao spent $1 million to stop a unionizing campaign, while in China, employees lived in dormitories, worked 12-hour shifts and got just two days off a month.

The film American Factory documents how Chinese auto-glass giant Fuyao opened a plant in Dayton, Ohio.
The film American Factory documents how Chinese auto-glass giant Fuyao opened a plant in Dayton, Ohio.

In an interview with the Chinese newspaper Beijing News, Cao, Fuyao's founder and chairman, said he remained opposed to unions and that Chinese businesses operating overseas should avoid engaging with unions.

Only state-affiliated unions are allowed to operate in China, and they often work closely with company management.

"Unions in the West actually indirectly protect those who don't work hard," Cao said in the interview, published on Sunday. "America's union system no longer fits the development of the manufacturing industry."

"Why did Obama fund this film? I think he has spotted this problem."

Fuyao is an auto-glass giant based in the southeastern Chinese province of Fujian. It has more than 25,000 employees across plants in China, Russia and the US.

Besides the Dayton facility, the Beijing News report says he owns four other factories in the US.

In China, the documentary prompts a wave of soul-searching about the human costs of the country's economic success.
In China, the documentary prompts a wave of soul-searching about the human costs of the country's economic success.

Over the past four decades, China has become the world's factory thanks to plentiful labor and efficient infrastructure. But this has come at the expense of workers' rights.

In the interview, Cao said efficiency and unions cannot co-exist and that the costs of dealing with unions could be detrimental to manufacturers.

Asked about the documentary, he said it succeeded in showing the world how Chinese factories worked but that parts of it had made his factory in China look bad.

In one scene, for example, a worker in Fuyao's factory in Fujian said she only went home once or twice a year. Cao said it was a "cultural difference" that Chinese people tended to work far away from home.

China has become the world's factory thanks to plentiful labor and efficient infrastructure.
China has become the world's factory thanks to plentiful labor and efficient infrastructure.

He also responded to a controversial scene in which managers of the Dayton factory were shocked to see workers in China picking up shattered glass with minimal protection.

Cao told the Beijing News those workers were employed by a sub-contractor, not directly by Fuyao.

Cao also commented on manufacturing in China as a whole. He said the rising cost of labor was a major problem because many young people would rather become security guards or food delivery workers than work in factories.

In recent years, China's manufacturing dominance has been challenged by countries in South Asia and Southeast Asia, which can offer even lower wages.

Copyright (c) 2019. South China Morning Post Publishers Ltd. All rights reserved.

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