Ohio Glass Plant Under Fire: Ex-Workers Tell Congressman of Heat, Fear and a Fatal Accident

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A Roundtable Without the Company

U.S. Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.) travelled to Dayton, Ohio, this week to hear directly from former employees of Fuyao Glass America. Khanna is the top Democrat on the House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).

He went because Fuyao would not talk. Khanna first wrote to the company and its Chinese parent in July 2026, asking for documents about its business and labor practices. He also asked to visit the plant and speak with workers.

Fuyao sent one reply, dated Sept. 23. In an Oct. 1 letter, Khanna said that answer left virtually all of the committee's questions unanswered and came with no documents. The company also did not grant access to the factory, so Khanna posed for a photo outside the property line instead.

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What the Former Workers Said

The meeting took place at the Dayton headquarters of the IUE-CWA, a labor union. Several workers who had left Fuyao for better jobs elsewhere took part.

Their complaints were similar. They described punishing heat inside the plant and supervisors who spoke little English, which made daily communication hard. One worker said quitting was risky: employees who gave two weeks' notice could be dismissed immediately. She said she had to complete her new employer's orientation in secret before telling Fuyao she was leaving.

Another former employee said she was hit by a forklift. She believed the driver was unlicensed and said that, even though cameras were running, the company claimed not to know who he was. She said this got in the way of her workers' compensation claim and a possible lawsuit.

Workers also said Chinese colleagues, who were housed and treated separately, were often favored for promotion because they could be paid less. They described groups being bused in and rotated out every few months.

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Union Talk Was Off Limits

Several former employees said the word "union" was effectively forbidden. One said supervisors warned that health insurance could be taken away if workers organized. Another said the company offered a $2-an-hour raise to those who voted against a planned union vote. A third recalled being told the plant would be shut down if a union ever arrived.

These are the workers' own accounts, and Fuyao has not responded to them. But they echo earlier reports. According to public records summarized by Wikipedia, Fuyao drew a federal labor settlement after an organizing drive at the plant, and management has long been accused of anti-union tactics.

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The Death of Ricky Patterson

The most serious account concerned Ricky Patterson, a 57-year-old Fuyao worker who died in 2018. A former colleague said Patterson was crushed by a sheet of glass after one side was cut and the other came loose. The colleague said Patterson was grieving his mother's death at the time, and that the rest of the staff still had to work that day.

U.S. workplace safety regulators (OSHA) fined Fuyao $7,000 in an informal settlement over a violation tied to the accident. A local union leader told the group that a former worker had warned him that deaths should be expected at the plant.

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A Bigger Investigation in the Background

The roundtable is not happening in a vacuum. In July 2024, federal agents from Homeland Security Investigations and the IRS raided Fuyao's plant in Moraine, Ohio, along with 27 other locations in the Dayton area, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of Ohio. Prosecutors described an investigation into money laundering, labor exploitation and possible human smuggling.

In court filings, prosecutors said the case involves a network of staffing companies that received more than $126 million, with Fuyao named as a source of the money. In April, the government filed a civil forfeiture complaint targeting bank accounts, properties, vehicles and luxury goods. According to the Dayton Daily News, no one at Fuyao has been charged. The company says it is not the focus of the investigation and that it employs more than 3,200 people in Ohio.

Ohio, Montgomery County and the city of Moraine gave Fuyao more than $12 million in incentives, local broadcaster WHIO reported. The state has said it defers to federal authorities on any findings.

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Why Khanna Says the Rules Must Change

Khanna told Fox News Digital that foreign companies are welcome to build factories in America, but must follow American rules. He named enforced safety standards, compliance with anti-discrimination law, and a hands-off approach to union campaigns as examples.

He said he wants legislation to tighten the little oversight that now exists when foreign firms buy U.S. plants. He also called for a federal industrial development bank to fund new factories in towns like Dayton. Some of these ideas, such as the bank and the union-neutrality rule, are policy positions from the Democratic side and are not shared by everyone in Congress.

Concern about Chinese-linked firms is bipartisan, however. Lawmakers from both parties have pressed the Justice Department for an overdue report on suspected labor trafficking and forced labor at CCP-linked auto parts and glass companies, NewsNation reported.

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Why It Matters

Fuyao's story began as a feel-good tale. When the company took over a closed General Motors plant near Dayton, it brought back thousands of jobs to a hard-hit region and was later featured in the 2019 documentary "American Factory."

Today that picture looks more complicated. Companies controlled by or tied to the Chinese Communist Party operate under a system where the state, not workers or courts, sets the priorities. Critics argue that this makes it harder to trust their promises on labor standards abroad, and that U.S. communities should look closely before accepting their investment.

Fuyao has not commented on the latest allegations. The next step is likely to be whether the company ever answers Congress, and what the Justice Department's long-delayed findings show.

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Sources

1. Fox News – "Expect deaths at this factory": Former employees describe hazardous conditions at Chinese-owned Ohio plant: https://www.foxnews.com/politics/expect-deaths-factory-former-employees-describe-hazardous-conditions-chinese-owned-ohio-plant
2. U.S. Attorney's Office, Southern District of Ohio – United States seizes assets related to $126 million illegal staffing, money laundering investigation: https://www.justice.gov/usao-sdoh/pr/united-states-seizes-assets-related-126-million-illegal-staffing-money-laundering
3. Dayton Daily News / WHIO-TV – Fuyao Glass America job commitments and the $126 million investigation: https://www.daytondailynews.com/tncms/asset/editorial/d97b10dc-4f40-587d-9eb9-557f8f012fd8
4. House Select Committee on the CCP (Democrats) – Khanna Launches Investigation Into Fuyao Glass: https://democrats-selectcommitteeontheccp.house.gov/media/press-releases/khanna-launches-investigation-fuyao-glass
5. WHIO – Chinese companies with Miami Valley ties facing federal scrutiny: https://www.whio.com/news/local/i-team-chinese-companies-with-miami-valley-ties-facing-federal-scrutiny/7QWQ2F6SOVBWFNT74TUF3A2WIA/
6. NewsNation – Ohio glass manufacturer part of DOJ probe into Chinese communist ties: https://www.newsnationnow.com/crime/ohio-glass-doj-chinese/amp/

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