DAYTON DAILY NEWS                   Copyright (c) 1996, Dayton Newspapers Inc.DATE: Wednesday, March 13, 1996              TAG: 9603130072EDITION: CITY           SECTION: NEWS        PAGE: 1A SOURCE: By Tom Beyerlein DAYTON DAILY NEWS                     UAWS LOCAL 696 PRESIDENT CONFIDENT   Joe Hasenjager already has been interviewed by enough news media to fill a pot of alphabet soup: ABC, CBS, NBC, CNN. And The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal are still waiting for a piece of his mind.   "I feel like Im in captivity, to the point where you almost cant go out without somebody coming up and wanting to talk about it," he said Tuesday afternoon.   The thoughtful, soft-spoken president of United Auto Workers Local 696 has suddenly become a powerful man as his striking local has tipped the domino that led to the closings of 21 of 29 parts-hungry General Motors assembly plants on the continent.   "It hasnt really struck home yet," said Hasenjager of Randolph Twp., who turns 51 on Easter. "I havent really stopped to think about the magnitude - that a local plant with local issues could cause this kind of a ripple effect."   Hasenjager, known as "Has" by his fellow union members, is no stranger to job actions - this is the third strike by his local since he was first electedthe locals full-time president in 1987. But at eight days and counting, this is the longest of the strikes, and it has had the most profound effect on other plants.   "We knew that we could affect some of the assembly plants, but not this (number of plants) in this number of days," Hasenjager said. He said only fiveor six plants closed during the last Dayton GM strike in 1994.   Hasenjager, whose name means "rabbit hunter" in German, said his stress level has increased with the crush of national media attention. While hes uncomfortable with the limelight, he thinks the public reaction to the strike will be mostly positive.   "Its somebody whos standing up for jobs, for the health and safety of workers," he said of the strikers. "Its not my ideas. Its whats right for the workers."   Hasenjager said his family has been supportive. Hes married, with two teen-age daughters at home and a grown son and daughter. Union activities havedominated his time lately, although he got the chance Sunday to take one his daughters, Corrie, to soccer practice.   "(Daughter) Abbe's English teacher says, Your dad does real well on TV, " hesaid.   But Hasenjager is anxious for things to get back to normal.   "I dont like power," he said. "Personally, I just want to get back to my job and represent the workers." LENGTH: Medium:   56 LINESSUBJ: STRIKE      UAW      LOCAL WORKERS NA: JOE HASENJAGER    LOCAL 696 ENHANCER: REF4