Inside Report (5)

Roy Williams has a big selling job to do. Williams is negotiating his first labor contract as president of the Teamsters union. He faces a problem of selling members a settlement likely to be much smaller than that in 1979 bargaining. Deadline for negotiations between the union and national trucking companies is next spring.

His predecessor, Frank E. Fitzsimmons, negotiated a 1979 settlement with about a 35 percent hike over three years. Many members felt that was too little. Industry sources say union officials will accept, in the first year at least, only a cost-of-living adjustment in wages, now about $12.96 an hour.

Winning acceptance of such a low settlement could stir trouble for Williams within his union.