WASHINGTON -- United Auto Workers President Ron Gettelfinger said Monday that a Feb. 17 deadline for General Motors Corp. and Chrysler LLC to complete restructuring plans may be "unattainable."

Last month, the U.S. Treasury Department agreed to loan the two cash-strapped automakers up to $17.4 billion to keep them afloat, contingent on the companies' filing detailed restructuring plans by Feb. 17 that include sacrifices from the UAW and bondholders, among others

"Honestly, most people that have looked at this from a realistic standpoint would say this timeline is almost unattainable," Gettelfinger told reporters in Washington at an event in advance of Tuesday's presidential inauguration. "I said myself that I hope this wasn't set up to intentionally fail. ... People have no idea of the magnitude of what they were asking these companies to do."

GM spokesman Greg Martin declined to comment on Gettelfinger's remarks. "We're working hard to meet the terms," Martin said.

Gettelfinger said that there have been "no formal discussions" yet with the companies but that the union is reviewing documents. He said no real progress has been made on reaching agreements with less than a month before the deadline.

"We've done everything we said we were going to do up to this point," Gettelfinger said. "We've brought our bargaining committees in, we've taken a look through our contracts. We haven't had any real formal discussions -- we have ongoing discussions with the companies -- but nothing formalized in any way shape or form."

He said a clause in the loan agreements with the Treasury that would put the automakers' loans in default if the UAW went on strike didn't bother the union. "It has no impact on anything," Gettelfinger said. "Our contracts are not a part of this agreement."

Gettelfinger said the union would seek more details about some of the loan terms. "We're still trying to sort through these documents because it was very unclear -- and there was no use for us to go to the Bush Administration and try to get an interpretation about what some of this stuff meant."

Rep. Gary Peters, D-Bloomfield Hills, said the auto companies must make tough decisions.

"We ought to let the companies and the UAW and others work those out," Peters said Monday. "The UAW understands what has to be done. The companies understand what has to be done." He said he expected they would have comprehensive plans to make the auto industry strong and a world leader again."