September 17, 1984

Negotiators for General Motors and the United Automobile Workers continued bargaining on national issues early today as about 58,000 workers prepared to prevent 11 plants from resuming production today. However, because bargainers were unable to reach an agreement early enough to notify workers, it appeared all but certain that a strike would continue even if an accord was reached before work was scheduled to begin. A settlement on local issues was reached Sunday night at a plant in California, one of 13 struck Friday, the union announced. The Associated Press quoted K. C. Beck, personnel director at the California plant, as saying the settlement had ''nothing to do with the national agreement.''

America is sobering up - and that is a sobering experience for the alcoholic beverage industry. In a country that has become more alert to health and fitness, more agitated about drunken driving and more mindful of moderation in many social habits, people are drinking less than they have in years. As a result, the entire liquor industry - from distillers and distributors to retailers and bars - is changing the way it does business. Per-capita consumption of distilled spirits fell last year, the fifth year in a row. Beer consumption, after declining in 1982, inched up a bit last year but is down again this year. Though wine drinking rose moderately in 1983, the gain was nothing like the robust advances of the early 1970's.

Dave Johnson remembers the first time he saw Dwight Gooden pitch. It was in the summer of 1982, and Gooden was a tall and lean kid of 17 who had just graduated from Hillsborough High School in Tampa, Fla., a kid reporting for work in the Appalachian Rookie League in Kingsport, Tenn. ''I was the roving instructor for the Mets in the minor leagues,'' Johnson says. ''The manager at Kingsport was Eddie Olsen, but he was still teaching school in San Diego, so they wanted someone to run the club for a couple of weeks and sent me there. ''I saw Gooden pitch for two or three weeks, and said, 'This is the best pitching prospect I ever saw.' And I saw Jimmy Palmer when he came up with the Baltimore Orioles.''

The picture that sits on the desk of Simon Bellamy, the managing director of Interior Trim Ltd., is not a family snapshot - it is a photo of one of two gold-plated DeLorean sports cars built before ill-fated DeLorean Motor Cars Ltd. went bankrupt in 1982. ''It represents a lot of blood, sweat and tears to me,'' said the 33-year-old Mr. Bellamy, who was formerly production manager of CP Trim Ltd., a seat-maker dragged to financial ruin when the DeLorean venture collapsed. For Mr. Bellamy, the DeLorean years proved to be an upsetting but exciting and career-enhancing experience. After CP Trim went into receivership in the spring of 1982, he quickly became involved in setting up Trimtech Ltd., a successor concern that was able to rehire some of CP's stunned work force. Last year, Mr. Bellamy left to found his own company, Interior Trim.

MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 17, 1984 International Israel devalued the shekel by 9 percent and announced a plan to cut this year's $20 billion national budget by $1 billion. These were the first steps taken by the new coalition Government to deal with the country's severe economic problems. (Page A1, Column 3.) Israelis accused of terrorizing Arabs in the West Bank went on trial in Jerusalem. It promises to be among Israel's most politically sensitive trials. The sentiment of the spectators and some of the police guarding the courtroom was clearly for the 20 defendants, despite the prosecution's warning that it was a criminal, not a political trial. (A12:4.)