GM STRIKE ENDS; NATIONAL ISSUES UNRESOLVED.

Byline: Keith Bradsher The New York Times

Workers began returning to two General Motors brake factories Friday afternoon, ending their 17-day strike with local disputes resolved but critical national issues unsettled between the company and the United Automobile Workers.

The national issues are sure to come up again this summer when negotiations begin before the expiration Sept. 14 of the UAW's three-year national contract. But for now, both sides have paid a high price for a strike that paid off mostly for the local workers.

GM and the UAW agreed to no changes in either the national contract or local agreements on the extent to which GM could farm out parts production to nonunion companies, a practice known as out-sourcing. This was the most important battleground in the strike for GM and the national leadership of the union, while the local union also had other concerns.

The union let GM proceed with plans to buy some anti-lock brake systems and other parts from outside companies. But GM agreed to hire more workers here and promised to continue making many other brake parts here. GM also agreed to pay $1,700 to each worker here in compensation for buying parts from outside companies in violation of the UAW's national contract.

Both sides claimed victory in the agreement, which was reached Thursday and approved this morning by close to 3,200 striking brake factory workers. The workers began returning to their jobs, and GM officials said that the company would reopen 26 shuttered assembly plants by the middle of next week and rehire 177,775 laid-off GM workers.

For his part, James M. Hagedon Jr., a GM spokesman, said that the company had preserved its ability to buy parts from outside companies. "We have the flexibility we've always had," he said.

And Richard Shoemaker, the director of the UAW's GM department, said the agreement provided job security for current workers, some new jobs for Dayton residents and improvements in unsafe working conditions.

"Once again, the UAW has (proved) that when working people stand together in defense of their rights and their livelihoods, and demand a better future for their families and their communities, we will win," he said.

GM is likely to find itself at a disadvantage in the national contract negotiations this summer, because the UAW is likely to seek a deal first with Chrysler Corp. and then demand that Ford Motor Co. and GM accept an identical arrangement. Chrysler already buys most of its parts from outside companies and may prove willing to cut a deal that puts a freeze on any further out-sourcing, in exchange for other concessions.

Any freeze on out-sourcing would prove a big problem for GM, which makes more of its own parts than any other large auto maker in the world.