Chinese-Owned Factory in Ohio Fights Off Unionization Plan
- 6 years ago
Chinese-Owned Factory in Ohio Fights Off Unionization Plan
“The less sophisticated and more ‘green’ Chinese investors don’t really understand local dynamics at all,”
said Damien Ma, a fellow at the Paulson Institute who follows Chinese investment in the United States.
“While we respect our employees’ right to support or reject a union, we also admire
their courage to reject this union’s desperate attempt to prop up its revenue.”
In conceding the result, the United Automobile Workers union, which had been organizing the workers since
2015, said it was considering filing objections with the federal labor board over the company’s behavior.
Mary Gallagher, the director of the Lieberthal-Rogel Center for Chinese Studies at the University of Michigan, said in an interview this spring
that Chinese business owners often expect to order around their workers freely, while American workers usually expect to have input into how they perform their tasks.
A Chinese glassmaker beat back a unionization bid at a plant in Ohio on Thursday, winning a key victory in an important
test of the way Chinese companies handle employee relations as they increase their holdings in the United States.
“We are pleased that FGA associates chose to maintain a direct relationship with our
company,” said Jeff Daochuan Liu, president of Fuyao Glass America, in a statement.
“And so they either don’t care that much about labor conditions, or most likely, they just don’t really know but pulled the trigger anyway.”
Fuyao arguably fell into this category, having set up its factory in union-friendly Ohio.
“The less sophisticated and more ‘green’ Chinese investors don’t really understand local dynamics at all,”
said Damien Ma, a fellow at the Paulson Institute who follows Chinese investment in the United States.
“While we respect our employees’ right to support or reject a union, we also admire
their courage to reject this union’s desperate attempt to prop up its revenue.”
In conceding the result, the United Automobile Workers union, which had been organizing the workers since
2015, said it was considering filing objections with the federal labor board over the company’s behavior.
Mary Gallagher, the director of the Lieberthal-Rogel Center for Chinese Studies at the University of Michigan, said in an interview this spring
that Chinese business owners often expect to order around their workers freely, while American workers usually expect to have input into how they perform their tasks.
A Chinese glassmaker beat back a unionization bid at a plant in Ohio on Thursday, winning a key victory in an important
test of the way Chinese companies handle employee relations as they increase their holdings in the United States.
“We are pleased that FGA associates chose to maintain a direct relationship with our
company,” said Jeff Daochuan Liu, president of Fuyao Glass America, in a statement.
“And so they either don’t care that much about labor conditions, or most likely, they just don’t really know but pulled the trigger anyway.”
Fuyao arguably fell into this category, having set up its factory in union-friendly Ohio.