DAYTON DAILY NEWS                   Copyright (c) 1996, Dayton Newspapers Inc.DATE: Friday, March 22, 1996                 TAG: 9603220079EDITION: CITY           SECTION: NEWS        PAGE: 1A TYPE: MAIN SOURCE: By Todd R. Wallack Dayton Daily News                             AFTER 17 DAYS, A DEAL                     UAW LEADERS PREDICT APPROVAL TODAY    General Motors Corp. and the United Auto Workers reached a tentative settlement Thursday in Dayton to end the most far-reaching strike against the automaker in 26 years.   After seven consecutive days of negotiations - including 49 straight hours at the end - weary union leaders emerged just before 1 p.m. Thursday to face ahorde of reporters and announce the breakthrough. But Union leaders wouldn't release terms of the agreement until a membership meeting at 10 a.m. today. Members of UAW Local 696 are scheduled to vote this morning at the University of Dayton Arena, and could return to work as early as this afternoon.   "I think once the membership sees what we were able to do for them, as wellas this community, they will be very pleased," said Joe Hasenjager, president of  Local 696. Pickets were scheduled to be taken down Thursday night.   GM officials were reluctant to say anything until the agreement is ratified. Spokesman Jim Hagedon showed up shortly after union officials to confirm that an agreement had been reached, but made no other statements.   Experts and other sources, however, said they think GM may have gotten a key concession to buy parts from outside plants, which could set a precedent for upcoming national negotiations. The UAW is gearing up to renegotiate its three-year contract with the Big Three automakers this summer, and buying outside parts, a practice called outsourcing, is expected to be a hot topic.   "I think it was GMs intention to really make this a national negotiation, not a local one," said David Cole, director of the University of Michigans Office for the Study of Automotive Transportation. "The financial community has got to see the deal as one that is going to help the company become more competitive."   Union members have staunchly opposed the move because they want to maintainjob security for their members. For its part, GM says it has to have the rightto sometimes search for parts outside its own plants to remain competitive. Moreover, the company would also like to reduce its vulnerability to strikes by getting parts from different sources, experts say.   In return, union sources say GM agreed to contract language that could leadto more local jobs and improved safety and health of workers.   But union leaders downplayed any impact of the agreement on the national negotiations.   "Of course it doesnt set the stage for September," said Richard Shoemaker, national UAW vice president in charge of GM negotiations. "It puts behind us the issues that were involved in this dispute . . . . The strike had nothing to do with forthcoming negotiations."   Still, Shoemakers presence seemed to indicate that the strike had some national significance. GMs vice chairman Harry Pearce also was reportedly in Dayton to deal with the negotiations. GM spokeswoman Karen Healy would only confirm that Pearce was not in Detroit Thursday. Hagedon declined comment.   Some talks also were held between top UAW and GM officials in Detroit. Joe Buckley, the UAWs shop chairman, maintained that the bulk of negotiations wereheld in Dayton. On the record, GM would simply say there was a "dialogue" in Detroit.    The 17-day walkout, against just two key Delphi Chassis brake plants in Dayton, virtually shut down the worlds largest automaker in North America overtwo weeks. By Thursday, GM said it had closed 26 of its 29 North American assembly plants, cut production at scores of parts plants and sent home more than 177,375 workers from Oshawa, Ontario, to Rio Bravo, Mexico. ================================================================================ 10 of 11, 1 Terms                                                    Pg 1 of 3  dt96                      AFTER 17 DAYS, A DEAL                      03/22/96 ================================================================================   By contrast, just 2,700 members of UAW Local 696 were on strike. The workers struck GMs Delphi Chassis Systems plants on Wisconsin Boulevard and Needmore Road, which supply brakes to virtually every car and truck GM makes.   The automaker was particularly vulnerable because it only keeps a short supply of extra parts to save costs. Analysts estimate the company likely lostproduction of between 200,000 and 250,000 cars and trucks, worth more than $500 million in pre-tax profits, because of the strike.   On the other hand, the strike may have come at a good time for the automaker because it went into the strike with about 200,000 extra vehicles inits inventory, said analyst David Healy of Burnham Securities. He said the company could also recoup some lost production later.   If union members approve the deal, GM said it will resume production over the next week.   GMs Tom Klipstine said he expects some assembly plants to start up as earlyas Saturday.   "I think by the end of next week, we should be getting back to fairly normal production," Klipstine said.   He said the Saturn plant in Spring Hill, Tenn., might be the first on line,because there are already parts nearly finished and waiting to be shipped at the Delphi Chassis plants.   In addition, Klipstine said plants such as Moraine Assembly, producing sport-utility vehicles and other hot items, might be among the first to recover. Some workers in Moraine were told they would be called back to work three or four days after the strike ended.   Locally, GM said it has had to send home more than 6,600 workers at five local plants: Moraine Assembly, 4,000 workers; Delphi Chassis on Home Avenue in Dayton, 940 workers; Moraine Engine Plant, 475 workers; Delphi Interior & Lighting Systems in Vandalia, 510 workers; Delphi Chassis plants in Kettering,715 workers.    In addition, many more workers have been sidelined at local companies that supply the GM plants, including Mayo Industries in Dayton. Restaurants and other businesses near the plants also said their business has suffered.   Nationally, economists have said the strike should nearly wipe out any growth in the nations production of goods and services during the first three months, but dont expect it to make any lasting impact. Reasons: The strike only affected a small percentage of workers for a very brief period. Second, analysts note that GM entered the strike with a large bubble of excess inventory and figure the company might have had to cut back production anyway.And, third, GM can make up some of the lost production later with overtime work.   Strikes are nothing new for Local 696. This is the third time workers have walked out in the past five years. But this is the first time GM has dug in its heels and refused to back down after two or three days. Suddenly, the local strike escalated into a national showdown.   Wall Street seemed to love the hard line. Despite the loss in production, GMs stock value actually rose by more than 1 percent over the past 2.5 weeks. It closed Thursday at 53 5/8, up 1/8 from Wednesday and up 1 3/8 from when thestrike began.*STAFF WRITER Jim Dillon contributed to this report.LENGTH: Long  :  130 LINESILLUSTRATION: PHOTO:          Delphi agreement: UAW's Joe Hasenjager (left) and GM's Richard           Shoemaker announce the settlement          PHOTO CREDIT:  SKIP PETERSON/DAYTON DAILY NEWSSUBJ: STRIKE      SETTLEMENT NA: DELPHI CHASSIS    UAW    GENERAL MOTORS CORP.    JOE HASENJAGER    RICHARD SHOEMAKER GEOG: DAYTON AT: TENTATIVE SETTLEMENT  ENHANCER: REF8