‘Team Concept’ Foe Wins UAW Van Nuys Vote

Pete Beltran, a union traditionalist who opposes the Japanese-style “team concept” production system being put in place at General Motors’ Van Nuys factory, was narrowly elected chairman of the union’s in-plant bargaining committee, union officials announced Thursday.

Beltran, 47, won a two-year term by defeating Richard Ruppert, 34, a more conciliatory union leader and a strong advocate of the team concept approach. He won by a mere 117 votes out of 3,085 cast by members of United Auto Workers Local 645. But union members also split their tickets in the election, as Jerry Shrieves, who ran on the same ticket as Ruppert, was elected president of the local by 220 votes.

The Beltran-Ruppert election campaign was viewed by many as a plebiscite on Japanese-style production methods at the factory. But interviews with workers at the plant Thursday revealed that not all of the winner’s supporters opposed the team concept. Some said they believe that Beltran, who started working at the plant in 1958, had more experience, while others said they believe that he would offer them greater protection on the shop floor during a massive change in plant operations.

“He’ll help everyone,” said Calvin Liggins, a 21-year veteran of the plant who works in the chassis department. Liggins said he was impressed by the fact that Beltran gave up his position as local president to run for chairman.

“We need him more in the plant than across the street at the union hall (as president),” Gilbert Pachecho said. “He’ll protect our rights.”

Beltran left the union presidency to seek the negotiating committee chairmanship, which, though it ranks below the presidency, has more impact on working conditions on the factory floor.

For months, Beltran has asserted that the team concept would erode traditional union protections, damage the national UAW and eventually cost jobs at the Van Nuys plant. He also asserted that the system, which eliminates strict job classifications and calls on workers to perform a variety of tasks, would create friction within the union by pitting employees against one another.

“My victory is a victory for the workers and a victory for people who believe the union should represent the workers not the company,” Beltran said.

Some sources at the plant said the fact that union members chose for their two top officers men who are at odds philosophically and are long-term opponents showed the deep uncertainties among the work force. But others said it was as much a matter of personality as philosophy.

“Pete’s a very charismatic guy with a long involvement in the union,” said Joel Smith, a UAW international representative. Others noted that Shrieves was bargaining committee chairman as recently as 1984 and that his opponent, Paul Goldener, had not held office in the union since 1978 and was not well known among younger workers.

Shrieves could not be reached for comment Thursday.

Last month, Beltran attempted to stop the introduction of team concept by filing a lawsuit in Los Angeles Superior Court and an action with the National Labor Relations Board, contending that the new plan is being implemented illegally. Both cases are still pending.

In the closing days of the campaign, Beltran’s campaign literature attempted to allay workers’ fears that the plant would be closed by GM if they voted for him. GM officials have said adopting the new production system ensured the plant’s future.

The veteran UAW leader asserted Thursday that there was no current danger of a plant closure.

Beltran said it is his intention to renegotiate a traditional seniority system in which veteran workers would automatically have first crack at the least physically demanding jobs and to try to restore a number of job classifications eliminated in the team concept agreement.

Ernie Schaefer, GM’s Van Nuys plant manager, declined to speculate on the effects of Beltran’s election.

“Implementation of the team concept is well under way,” he said, but added, “I’m sure there will be some changes. We’ll find a path through the forest.”