Van Nuys UAW Officer Transferred to Detroit

Ray Ruiz, who spearheaded a drive to introduce Japanese-style “team concept” work rules at the General Motors assembly plant in Van Nuys, will be transferred to the United Auto Workers headquarters in Detroit as a staff representative, union officials said Thursday.

Ruiz, 31, who serves as shop chairman and chief negotiator for UAW Local 645 in Van Nuys, will receive an automatic one-year leave of absence from the plant to take the job, local president Peter Z. Beltran said.

Ruiz will have to apply to the local’s membership, however, to regain his officer titles if he returns, Beltran said.

The next meeting at the local is scheduled for Nov. 25. A replacement for Ruiz will probably be selected then, Beltran said.

Human Resources Group

In Detroit, Ruiz will work in a new “human resources” group overseeing relations between car manufacturers and the union, said Joe B. Garcia, financial secretary for the local. Ruiz will be responsible, in part, for helping to implement the team concept at other plants around the nation, he said.

Under the team concept, employees work in small groups and in theory have more say over how a car is made. It represents a sharp break from the traditional American assembly line, in which each worker performs a single task.

The only other U.S. auto plant using such techniques is the GM-Toyota joint venture in Fremont, Calif. The Van Nuys local narrowly approved a team-concept plan in May, and the company plans to begin implementing it next year.

‘Team Concept’ Credited

At a Nov. 6 news conference in Van Nuys, GM and union officials credited the approval vote with having saved the long-endangered facility from GM’s nationwide wave of 11 plant closings.

But GM President F. James McDonald, at a separate news conference in Detroit, said the plant was spared simply because it is newer and more efficient than a rival facility in Norwood, Ohio. Both plants build Chevrolet Camaros and Pontiac Firebirds.

The team concept has been at the center of a dispute within the local, with the two factions led by Ruiz and Beltran, the highest-ranking officials.

Beltran, who has argued that the team concept will cut jobs at the plant, said he plans to try to block retention of Ruiz’s officer titles while Ruiz is in Detroit. Over the last six weeks, Beltran has led a movement to recall Ruiz from office.

Ruiz could not be reached for comment.