Strike settled

A nine-day strike at a General Motors parts plant that had forced GM to close nine assembly plants has been tentatively settled, company and union officials said yesterday.

Negotiators from GM and United Auto Workers Local 1714, whose 2,000 members struck on 27 August over job security, health and safety issues, reached the agreement after exhaustive talks, said a GM spokeswoman.

'Dependent upon a ratification vote, they would get production started later today,' she said.

Key issues in the strike were the hiring of non-union workers and GM's plan to close a tool-and-dye shop where 240 people work.

GM announced last year it will close 21 plants and cut about 60,000 hourly positions in the US and Canada by 1995.