May 19 (Bloomberg) -- United Auto Workers President Ron Gettelfinger said the union and automaker General Motors Corp. have a “long way to go” to reach an agreement that local labor leaders could vote on.

Gettelfinger, who declined to identify the key sticking points in the talks, said he was heading to the U.S. Treasury Department today for further discussions about GM, which has a June 1 deadline to complete a restructuring plan.

He spoke after a union-sponsored forum at the U.S. Capitol, where lawmakers, local mayors and other union leaders criticized GM’s intention to shut U.S. plants and boost imports as part of a proposal to the Obama administration on how it would regain profitability.

“Obviously a lot of the issues that were discussed here today are being discussed” at the negotiating table, Gettelfinger told reporters.

GM’s decision to shut 16 U.S. plants and boost the number of cars it imports to 7 percent of North American sales has emerged as a sticking point in talks on a new UAW contract. GM needs the accord as part of a proposal to reduce debt and union retiree obligations by $44 billion or be forced into bankruptcy in 18 days.

“It’s a major issue for GM and the UAW,” Michigan Democratic Representative Sander Levin said in an interview. “It very much should be considered” in the negotiations.

Levin said that he is concerned about the possibility of increased imports from China and South Korea, a nation that has a pending free-trade agreement with the U.S.

“The increase is going to be much more dramatic for Korea,” he said.

Boost Imports

Using a taxpayer bailout to boost imports may harm President Barack Obama, Leo Gerard, president of the United Steelworkers union, told reporters in Washington.

“Why would we give them our money to ship jobs overseas?” Gerard said. “There will be repercussions. This may be Obama’s Nafta.”

After President Bill Clinton pushed Congress to adopt the North American Free Trade Agreement in 1993, union workers declined to support Democrats in 1994 and the House of Representatives shifted to Republican control.

It would take three or four days if a deal is reached with the automaker to get the local union representatives to vote on it, Gettelfinger said.

Gettelfinger also told reporters in Washington today that he supports the Obama administration’s proposal to tighten auto emission standards.

To contact the reporter on this story: Mark Drajem in Washington at mdrajem@bloomberg.net

Last Updated: May 19, 2009 14:15 EDT