Detroit (WWJ)  -- Admitting members were concerned, United Auto Workers President Ron Gettelfinger said Wednesday that the union is willing to modify its contract and delay billions of dollars in payments to a union-run health care trust in an effort to help the struggling Big Three automakers.

Gettelfinger also said the union will modify the jobs bank, in which laid-off workers are paid up to 95 percent of their salaries while not working, but he did not give specifics.

"We're going to sit down and work out the mechanics," Gettelfinger said at a news conference after meeting with local union officials.  "We're a little unclear on some of the issues."

One local union member who was in the meeting said the changes to the jobs bank would nearly eliminate it. The member asked not to be identified because the details had not been made public.

Gettelfinger stopped short of saying the union would reopen contract talks with General Motors, Chrysler and Ford, but said it would be willing to return to the bargaining table to change some terms.

The UAW's efforts to help the Detroit Three get up to $34 billion in government loans come after GM and Chrysler said they are perilously low on cash and need government help before the end of the year.  Ford says it has enough borrowed cash to make it through 2009 and may not need government help.

Members of Congress last month criticized the automakers for paying workers who are not on the job.

Gettelfinger declined to say whether renewed negotiations with the automakers would mean a cut in wages.

He also said the union will run a television ad in Maine, Kentucky, Indiana and Minnesota to put the faces of union workers on the controversy over the loans. The ads presumably are designed to pressure Congressional opponents of the loans.

The union meeting came a day after the Big 3 automakers submitted plans to Congress in hopes of securing federal loans.  Gettelfinger and executives from the auto companies will be before the Senate Banking Committee Thursday morning. 

Meantime, a top executive of GM said Wednesday bankruptcy isn't a viable option, as the United Auto Workers braced for a decision on contract concessions to the endangered Detroit Three.

Fritz Henderson, president and chief operating officer of GM, said choosing the bankruptcy route would further erode consumer confidence in the automaker and "we want them to be confident in their ability to buy our cars and trucks."

Henderson acknowledged Wednesday that the initial appearances by the heads of the car makers was a public relations failure.

Chrysler, Ford and GM have ditched their corporate jets for hybrid cars and replaced vague pleas for federal help with detailed requests.  It's their second crack at persuading Congress to throw them a lifeline.

Click here to read the automaker's reports and for related articles.