Car haulers climb back into trucks

Teamsters car haulers climbed back into their trucks yesterday after a three-week strike. The car haulers were told to return to work yesterday. ``It'll take a day or two to clear the back log,'' said Richard Hammond, president of the Houston local.

Bargainers for the Teamsters and National Automobile Dealers Association reached a tentative agreement on a three-year pact last Wednesday. The 20,000- member car haulers union went on strike after talks broke down July 25, halting delivery of new cars to dealers. Voting on the pact will be conducted by mail.

Pete Karagozian, president of car-haulers Local 299 in Detroit, the largest in the country with 2,000 members, cautioned that ``This agreement may not pass. That's the word coming back to us on the grapevine.''