What causes workers to distrust management?

In the 1986 comedy film Gung Ho starring Michael Keaton, the story revolves around the takeover of an ailing American car plant by a Japanese company with a fictional name, Assan Motors Corp.

- REY ELBO

In the 1986 comedy film Gung Ho starring Michael Keaton, the story revolves around the takeover of an ailing American car plant by a Japanese company with a fictional name, Assan Motors Corp. When the factory closed its doors, leaving hundreds of jobless people, its former foreman Hunt Stevenson (played by Keaton) went to Tokyo to convince Assan to reopen the plant.

Assan agreed but took advantage of desperate workers by demanding unreasonable conditions in exchange for the plant's reopening. The workers were not allowed to form a union, received low salaries, and were required to fulfill almost impossible standards of quality and productivity.

Making the work relationship complex was the demand of Assan managers that everyone does early morning calisthenics and bathe naked together in a river near the factory. Despite this attempt to change culture, the American workers reciprocated with their poor attitude towards quality and productivity.

To solve the problems, Hunt promised major changes to Assan and offered to make 15,000 cars in one month, a benchmark for the best Japanese auto plant. If that happens, the workers will be given pay raises and more jobs will be created to accommodate other jobless people in town. If the proposal falls short, even by one car, everyone gets nothing.