UAW President Stephen Yokich has been meeting with senior GM bargainers since Tuesday, but negotiations have proceeded at a slow pace ahead of the vote by 75,000 UAW members who work at DaimlerChrysler's plants.

DaimlerChrysler, as the first of the Big Three automakers to reach an agreement with the UAW, will set a pattern for the entire industry. The deal, which includes generous wage and pension increases, is the first in memory to be unanimously approved by plant-level Union leaders, and is expected to win overwhelming approval by the general membership.

Once Yokich gets word the contract has cleared its last hurdle with the German-American automaker, talks are expected to intensify with GM after months of exchanges at the subcommittee level. The UAW will turnits full attention to Ford after it comes to terms with GM.

Analysts said they expected GM, the world's largest automaker, to accept the general terms set by DaimlerChrysler, but a few difficult issues remain in the negotiations, such as job security measures.

With U.S. Sales on a record pace, both sides are seen eager to resolve some of the differences that led to a nearly two-month-long strike last summer, which effectively shut down GM's North American operations and cost the automaker $2 billion.

"I don'T really see that the Chrysler terms are going to be a problem for GM," said Richard Block, a professor at the School of Labour and Industrial Relations at Michigan State University. "GM is likely to get it done pretty quickly."

The economics of the DaimlerChrysler contract, including a3 percent pay increase in each of the four years and a $1,350 signing bonus, are basically affordable for GM, Block said.

The DaimlerChrysler deal also includes a provision that calls for a percentage of workerswho leave the company for any reason to be replaced with new hires, something that could slow GM's efforts to trim its work force.

Analysts said GM, whose eroding market share has made it the most inefficient of the U.S. Automakers, needs to cut its hourly work force by tens of thousands to be more competitive.

However, the average age of GM's hourly workers is 48, and more than a third of the 172,000 UAW members at the automaker are eligible to retire within the next five years.

"You don'T need to downsize, you can ride the attritioncurve. It's a kinder, gentler form of downsizing," said Bank One Corp. Chief Economist Diane Swonk."

Another clause in the DaimlerChrysler contract prohibits automakers from selling, closing or spinning off plants, a provision apparently aimed directly at Ford Motor Co.'s efforts to cast off its Visteon parts unit.GM has some older plants that face uncertain fates. But analysts said the automaker and the Union could work out some terms at a local level if it wanted toclose the facilities and move work elsewhere.

GM faces some tougher issues in Canada with the Canadian Auto Workers Union, including outsourcing to non-Union parts suppliers and the future of its Ste. Therese, Quebec, car assembly plant.

The 13,000 CAW workers at Ford's Canadian plants are scheduled to vote on a tentative three-year contract on Sunday. After the vote on the pattern-setting deal, the CAW will announce the next company in this year's round of negotiations, expected to be DaimlerChrysler.