American Factory 2019 | Netflix | My Personal Reviews – September 4, 2019
Being that I’m a Canadian and a former blue-collar worker who if need be would work as a blue-collar worker. American Factory really resonated with me, because working in Shipping Receiving as well as working with Sheet Metal since I was 18 I’ve ALWAYS hated the labor unions here in Canada. I never saw the need for them and all the people at these jobs I worked for who were Pro-Union were all EXTREMELY lazy in comparison to those of us who just went to work to pick up a check and go home or in my case did my second and third jobs.
Why do I hate labor unions in a nutshell, well when I was younger I had a fear of heights, one of my first jobs, ROOFING, after 2 days I quit and found another job, that’s how I look at employment, I want the option to Quit and have a line up of employers who need my labor. The theme of this article is that bad government laws towards businesses cause unemployment.
If you search this blog with dated posts you’ll notice that I’ve written over 1000 posts in less than 3 years. In my blue-collar workdays, I felt like crap if I was working less than 2 jobs at the same time. As a God-fearing man, I personally feel extremely blessed and humbled to be lucky enough to have been born in Toronto, Canada. What I’ve always liked about living in a big city is the abundance of jobs and when I was growing up in the late 80’s – the early ’90s there were even more jobs available than there are now. Now, I’m not sure if the government data reflected that, but this was my experience because when you’re a broke kid like I was, I was willing to do almost any job to make money and get out of my parents’ house.
In the film, there’s a woman who works for Fuyao, who prior to working at Fuyao Glass Industry Group Co. Ltd was living in a room in a friends house, because of Fuyao employing her, she was able to rent her own apartment. Now, for whatever reason instead of being grateful she felt as though she should be entitled to get more, she should get more job security via a Labour union, well in the film because of her siding with the Labor Union instead of her employer she was ultimately fired from her employer Fuyao? Now, the real question to ask in that particular situation is, was it worth it?
A GM Plant Existed Prior To Fuyao purchasing the building
On Youtube, there’s a channel called the Scotty Kilmer the guy is a fantastic Youtuber, providing topnotch USEFUL information that you won’t get anywhere else. A theme on the Scotty Kilmer channel is badly made GM vehicles, but what people often forget is why GM quality started to decline in the first place. Car quality at GM declined primarily because of the Labor Unions, there’s this concept that people have that businesses who are or who are perceived to be profitable have an unlimited supply of money and there’s nothing the unionized employees can do to prevent the super-rich corporations from becoming unprofitable.
I bring up Scotty Kilmer primarily because if you listen to Scotty Kilmer what he’ll often talk about are individual pieces that make up the whole car. As an example, a transmission might be made from “company A” and an engine made at “company B” and wheel bearings at “company C”, etc. Well, when it costs a U.S manufacturer more money to pay employers into perpetuity regardless of the employees’ performance on the job, well the Bean counters at the company in a competitive Global automotive environment eventually have to make the decision to cut production costs or find less expensive ways of doing things. This in case people haven’t been paying attention is what destroyed the U.S automotive sectors.
GM especially was very giving to their employees, but via GM labor unions GM wasn’t appreciated for everything they did. I have family members who worked at GM they all have homes that in today’s economy will easily sell for $750K. They got in GM early so they’re also the beneficiaries of a pretty good pension, however, their era no longer exists and the Culture of work in North America has changed dramatically. In the film, it’s important to remember that Fuyao is a Chinese company that makes GLASS.
Now, from my standpoint why Americans or an American company can’t make GLASS is a sign that the culture of America is one of worker entitlement. American entrepreneurs probably avoided making glass in the U.S because of fear of Unionization. I was going to purchase a company last year and at first, I was baffled why the owner who was 2 years younger than myself had no desire to grow his company, well after a few discussions, I found out, he feared the employees would Unionize! So instead of growing he accepted that the cashflow he was getting was enough to live on and he didn’t want to rock the boat, by putting himself in a Government bracket that would allow his employees to be targets for labour union recruiters.
This type of thinking is abundant amongst entrepreneurs in North America and the film American Factory basically points out the flaw in Union culture. One of the reasons as a teen why I didn’t like Unions is that I liked quitting jobs, I liked the notion of not showing up for a job I didn’t like and knowing that there was an abundance of other jobs that could employ me. Unlike a lot of people who felt like they were being exploited by employment agencies(an agency that would find you work for a fee), I looked at things entirely different, an employment agency to me was the equivalent to Uber in the modern era. I show up to work when I feel like it!
Employment agencies are how I got most of my work experience, I can drive every single forklift lift, I can weld, I know more about Sheet metal than 95% of people reading this, I also know how to negotiate, if you’re reading this, I’ll let you know right now, I’m one hell of a negotiator, while you might go to a job and get $20, I bet I’ll find a way to get $27 for doing the same job. While working with Sheet metal I was used by the Union as an example of why they needed a labour union, why? Because my work ethic and negotiation skills allowed me to reach the top pay scale in an unionized company during my probation period. CORPORATIONS ARE PEOPLE TOO! Eyeball to eyeball negotiations and hard work, it will go a long way, especially if the company is American or in my situation Canadian owned! People who are pro-union in my opinion look at the employer-employee relationship all wrong!
Regarding the film, from my standpoint, it’s an indictment on the Pro-Union American employee. If you’re pro-union I just want to ask you a question, is there ever a time when the Union or the collective might be wrong about something? If they’re wrong and cost you an income or worse put laws into place which scare away employers in your Town, City or State, who suffers? Will the Union suffer? Will the employer suffer? or will you, the unskilled employee suffer?
I often have to remind people of something that’s often ignored about INCOME taxes. If there are no employers, do income taxes get paid? So in reality, who pays income taxes? The employer or the employee? it’s a question that gets to the heart of my argument, I hope people in the Western world can have a rethink of local employers. GM was so accommodating to its employees and now, Americans are having to be reliant on CHINESE owned businesses to employ them, aren’t you ashamed? America is the entrepreneur capital of the world, American entrepreneurs are some of the best employers on the planet.
Union culture is clouding the thinking of many Americans, what are you fighting for, why don’t these employees have better job options available? Could it be that Dayton laws aren’t favorable to businesses?. Nothing is better for employees than an overabundance of employers, when companies are competing for your labour and when the cost to start your own business is low, this is how your standard of living is bettered. OPTIONS! FREEDOM! LIBERTY!
In the film American Factory, I believe one of the employees said they went from making nearly $30 an hour at GM to $12 an hour at Fuyao? Can GM get a little credit? Can Ford and Chrysler get a little credit? Can the American entrepreneur get a little credit for surviving for as long as they could with the mainstream media, Politicians, and Unions breathing down their necks not to mention Shareholders to answer too? Fuyao makes GLASS, the fact that Ohio needs a Chinese company to make Glass, should make many Americans rethink Union culture.
I’m not against forming a PRIVATE sector Union, it’s just I want Private sector union members to be aware that there are Pros and Cons to every choice you make and ultimately you as the Individual have to make the choice what’s best for you. Don’t allow collectivization to damn you to a life of servitude to the collective. In China, their Union culture is United with the Chinese Communist Party. Can you see the correlation between labor Unions and Communism?
GM can close down operations, that’s how they can punish you from Unionizing, the mere fact that GM put up with a labor union for as long as they did, should tell you everything you need to know about GM’s love for America. As I tell my kids, I advise you if you’re an employee to consider starting your own business before assuming that any business has an unlimited source of money. Most business owners are in more debt than the employees they hire.
Lastly regarding Automation replacing jobs, LMAO, Automation is making jobs easier. If you’re wanting wage increases I think you’re looking at the equation the wrong way, what automation is supposed to do is drive down prices for consumers. There’s a flawed notion about a MARKET economy that prices and wages should go up, why? This is obviously brainwashing, what’s supposed to happen is as things get more automated the cost of living is supposed to come down, which also includes wages, the real problem with this happening revolves around Government paychecks.
Government contracts and almost everything government related is reliant on price inflation, primarily because the Public Sector, unlike the Private Sector, isn’t based on efficiency, the Government and Government services is based on promoting itself as worthy of more of your tax dollars, if the government can’t raise taxes it will inflate the currency with using the Federal Reserve, this silent tax, kills more jobs than automation ever could! Lastly, I’d like to make mention that the most inefficient part of China is the Chinese Communist Party.
As you can tell I think the American Factory film was well done, I don’t want to spoil it for you, but it’s worth the watch and should spark a debate in your own head.
Interesting times ahead!