Judge Dismisses Suit Challenging GM Adoption of Team Concept

A federal judge Monday threw out a lawsuit brought against General Motors by several members of the United Auto Workers challenging the legality of a Japanese manufacturing method the company installed at its Van Nuys plant in May.

The dismissal, by U. S. District Judge Alicemarie H. Stotler, is seen as a serious setback to efforts by UAW shop chairman Peter Z. Beltran, a plaintiff in the suit, to alter or abandon the manufacturing method, known as team concept. General Motors is counting on team concept to help reverse its shrinking market share and plunging corporate profits.

In team concept, employees work in groups or teams on entire sections of a car, instead of performing a single repetitive task. It has narrowed the job classifications at GM’s Van Nuys plant from 170 to two: team leader and team member.

Beltran has contended that the absence of job classifications will lead to health and safety problems as workers substitute for one another. He also said he worries that salaries will fall.

Beltran and the other plaintiffs in the suit charged General Motors with breach of contract, saying the company had violated the national UAW agreement when it installed team concept and that there was no legitimate local contract to implement the method. But GM produced a contract signed by international representatives for the UAW. The judge ruled that Beltran would have to follow regular grievance procedures within the company and the union before the contract could again be challenged in the courts.

Also named in the suit was the State of California for giving GM almost $20 million to implement team concept under guidelines of the state’s Employment Training Panel designed to attract companies to California or keep them in the state.

At least half the training in team concept deals with interpersonal communications, not the mechanics of production. For instance, the training manual includes phrases that workers could use to polish their listening skills, including, “I accept you as a person.”

Plaintiffs’ attorney, Helena S. Wise, said: “It’s a ruse. It’s a waste of funds. Quite frankly, if Oliver North can get yelled at for a $27-million appropriation to the contras but everyone turns their head at a $20-million appropriation to GM, something’s strange.” The judge ruled that the grant was within guidelines of state law.

“I think in a manner of speaking, we were clobbered,” said Beltran. But he added, “I think we’ll remedy team concept in contract negotiations.”

The national UAW contract expires in September.