PEOPLE : UAW in Van Nuys Reelects Shrieves

Workers at General Motors Corp.’s plant in Van Nuys, signaling their continued support of a cooperative management style by their union and GM executives, Thursday reelected Jerry Shrieves as president of their union local.

Shrieves, a supporter of the “team concept” approach patterned after Japanese-style management, defeated Peter Beltran for the three-year post at United Auto Workers Local 645, which represents the plant’s 3,500 hourly employees.

However, Beltran refused to concede the election, alleging that the computer that tallies the votes was tampered with. He declined to elaborate except to say, “I think the election was stolen from us” and that he has “ample evidence to set this election aside.”

Shrieves could not be reached for comment. A receptionist at the union local’s office said Shrieves was not expected Thursday. She also said the voting is overseen by an election committee that itself was elected by the union’s members.

Several of Shrieves’ allies were elected to other local offices, including Joe B. Garcia, who was reelected secretary/treasurer by defeating Paul Goldner. Three trustees, elected to sit on the local’s executive board, are also allies of Shrieves, according to Henry Gonzalez, the assistant director for the UAW’s western region who announced the results.

Another Shrieves supporter, Jess Pacheco, will be in a runoff election for vice president of the local against Beltran ally Jake Flukers, Gonzalez said.

Under team concept, workers are members of teams that work on entire sections of a car, with the power to make suggestions and stop the assembly line to fix problems. The method is supposed to improve quality and foster camaraderie, but team-concept foes such as Beltran say the plan does nothing to ensure job security.

Beltran wanted the union to adopt a more traditional, adversarial stance with GM, particularly because GM has not guaranteed that the plant--which builds the Chevrolet Camaro and Pontiac Firebird sports cars--will remain open beyond the next couple of years.

Although he lost, Beltran garnered 47% of the 2,914 votes cast for president, compared to 53% for Shrieves, indicating that the plant’s work force is still badly split over the cooperative approach.

Coincidentally, the team concept approach was first ratified at the Van Nuys plant, at GM’s urging, in 1986 by the same 53%-47% vote. But a year ago, workers elected mostly foes of team concept as delegates to the UAW’s annual convention.

“There’s a lot of division,” Gonzalez said. Workers want to give team concept “a chance, but they’re very hesitant because GM hasn’t made a new car commitment” for the plant, he said.

Last October, GM announced that when it introduces the next generation of the Camaro and Firebird, production of the cars will be moved to its plant in Ste. Therese, Canada. No timetable was disclosed, but the change is expected sometime in the period covered by the 1992-94 model years.

The company has not announced whether Van Nuys--the last auto assembly plant in Southern California--will build another vehicle. But GM is considering making the facility a “flex” plant that could shift production among several models depending on demand.