DETROIT — Leaders of the United Auto Workers union are considering targeted strikes at a small number of factories if they can’t reach contract agreements by a Thursday night deadline.

General Motors’ first wage-and-benefit offer to the United Auto Workers on Sept. 7 falls far short of the union’s initial demands.

The head of the United Auto Workers warned Sept. 6 that the union plans to go on strike against any Detroit automaker that hasn’t reached a new agreement by the time contracts expire next week.

The demands that a more combative United Auto Workers union has pressed on General Motors, Stellantis and Ford are edging it closer to a strike when its contract ends Sept. 14.

The United Auto Workers union says it has filed unfair labor practice complaints against Stellantis and General Motors for failing to make counteroffers to the union’s economic demands.

The Biden administration is making up to $12 billion available for automakers to retrofit their facilities to make electric vehicles and hybrids.

The United Auto Workers gave union leaders permission to call a strike against the biggest U.S. carmakers if they fail to agree on a new contract before Sept. 15, a procedural formality that sets the stage for three weeks of tough negotiations.

DETROIT — About 146,000 members of the United Auto Workers union will vote next week whether to authorize their leaders to call strikes against the Detroit automakers.

President Joe Biden urged United Auto Workers and Detroit’s Big Three automakers to come to a “fair agreement,” weighing in on tense contract talks with major implications for the economy.

DETROIT — The United Auto Workers union will present a long list to General Motors, Ford and Stellantis when it delivers economic demands to the companies this week, the union’s president says.