WASHINGTON -- As Detroit's Big Three are poised to present their business plans to Congress today justifying quick approval of $25 billion in emergency loans, the United Auto Workers has called an emergency meeting in Detroit on Wednesday during which the union could consider reopening its 2007 contracts with the automakers.

Union leaders representing workers at General Motors Corp., Ford Motor Co. and Chrysler LLC plants across the country have been called to Detroit for the session, according to sources familiar with the plan.

One local UAW official who has been invited to the meeting expects the union leaders are going to be asked for their support to reopen the 2007 contracts and to agree to concessions that would help make the automakers financially viable.

The business plans GM, Ford and Chrysler have prepared for Congress include seeking additional givebacks from the UAW as one way to cut costs, according to sources with knowledge of the plans.

A person familiar with one automaker's plan said a variety of topics are being explored. Key issues include reopening the contract, eliminating the controversial jobs bank that still pays workers even when they are laid off, and how much and how quickly the automakers will contribute to a trust fund to be run by the UAW that will take over responsibility for retiree health care beginning in 2010. The health care trust was a key part of the landmark contracts negotiated last year.

UAW spokesman Roger Kerson could not be reached for comment late Monday.

Harley Shaiken, a labor expert and professor at the University of California, Berkeley, was unaware of Wednesday's meeting but was not surprised it was called.

"We truly are in uncharted waters, the stakes are enormous and when you have a situation like that, to lead effectively, you need all the local people aware of the choices and hearing directly from the top leadership what the options are."

Wednesday's meeting was first reported by Bloomberg News.

UAW President Ron Gettelfinger was criticized for the jobs bank during congressional hearings last month about giving the automakers federal aid. The number of workers in the programs has been greatly reduced under tougher time restrictions in the 2007 contract but the benefit is derided as a relic of a bygone age that erodes the automakers' ability to compete and that they can no longer afford. Gettelfinger recently said Ford has taken 40,000 workers out since 2005 and GM has removed about 47,000. About 3,500 workers are in the programs today, he said.

"The jobs bank has become the poster boy of what's gone wrong with the industry," Shaiken said. "The union knows it's the reality they have to deal with. To defend the jobs bank is just not done in the current environment."

In addition to seeking more concessions from the union, Detroit's Big Three will pledge to cut executive pay, limit corporate jet travel and take sweeping steps to return to profitability in the plans they will deliver to Congress.

The chief executives of GM, Ford and Chrysler will return to Washington later this week to make their second plea for aid before House and Senate committees and could face calls for their ouster after a leading Democrat on Monday called for their resignation in return for federal help.

"If I had my way, all three of those guys would be in the unemployment line and I think that ought to be one of the conditions for us doing this," House Majority Whip Jim Clyburn, D-S.C., told reporters in South Carolina, according to the Associated Press.

As majority whip, Clyburn would be responsible for getting the votes needed to pass a rescue plan for the automakers.

South Carolina is home to a BMW plant in Spartanburg, which is set for a $750 million expansion by 2010. Detroit's Big Three have clashed with a growing number of southern lawmakers representing districts where foreign auto companies have factories.

On Monday, the Big Three were putting the finishing touches on the plans congressional leaders required last month when they delayed a vote on $25 billion in emergency assistance.

GM's board of directors approved its plan late Monday. It will be delivered to Congress after the markets close today and will include sacrifices from executives, hourly workers and debt holders.

GM will disclose it has been discussing a proposal with holders of its debt to offer them equity in exchange, a person briefed on the plan said. GM also may announce it is putting up for sale or shuttering Saab, Saturn and Pontiac -- on top of its earlier announced plans to sell its Hummer brand -- and shrinking its dealer network.

Ford said Monday it was putting its Volvo unit up for sale and is expected to detail reductions in executive compensation and corporate travel as part of a plan the company's board approved on Monday. It will highlight its small car strategy and shift to more fuel-efficient vehicles.

Chrysler had not finalized its plan late Monday, said spokeswoman Shawn Morgan.

The companies' revamped business plans are due to Congress the same day they will report November U.S. auto sales, which are expected to be nearly as dismal as October's, when demand plummeted nearly 32 percent. All Big Three members are expected to post sales declines of more than 30 percent, according to Wall Street forecasts. GM is expected to announce more production cuts in North America along with sales.

Some analysts said sales were hurt late in the month by the intense criticism the Detroit companies faced at the congressional hearings last month and talk of a possible GM bankruptcy filing, which the company has said isn't planned.

In making their second pitch for federal aid, the automakers will try to win over a skeptical Congress with substance and symbolism.

On Monday, Ford spokesman Mike Moran said CEO Alan Mulally would drive to Washington in an as yet unidentified Ford vehicle. GM CEO Rick Wagoner also will drive, likely in a Chevrolet Malibu hybrid. Chrysler's Robert Nardelli said earlier he would not return to Washington by corporate plane, but the company hasn't said how he will travel this week.

The CEOs flew to Washington on separate corporate jets last month for the first round of hearings and drew stinging criticism from lawmakers, as did the reluctance of Mulally and Wagoner to accept new pay cuts.

All three companies' plans will disclose how much cash they have on hand and how much they need in the short term to survive. Chrysler said it had burned through $5 billion in the first nine months of the year, and was down to $6.1 billion as of Sept. 30. GM lost more than $20 billion in the first nine months of the year and burned through $6.9 billion in the third quarter. Ford ran through $7.7 billion in the third quarter. .

GM and Chrysler have warned they could run out of cash by early next year. Nardelli said last month Chrysler is in "a very fragile position."

Chrysler's plan is expected to reiterate that it is seeking additional alliances with other automakers. GM and Chrysler held merger talks this fall, but dropped them last month. Chrysler also held talks with the Renault SA-Nissan Motor Co. alliance about a possible tie-up.

Automakers face a difficult road to win approval for the loans. Even if Congress likes their plans and the hearings go well, it is not certain that both houses of Congress will agree on a plan that can be signed into law by President George W. Bush.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., and Republicans are still at an impasse over where to get the money to help the companies. Pelosi wants to tap the $700 billion Wall Street rescue package, while Republicans want to drop the fuel efficiency requirements from a $25 billion Energy Department retooling program.

"We'll see what they come up with and what the two hearings yield," said Pelosi spokesman Drew Hammill.

Sen. George Voinovich, R-Ohio, on Monday urged Pelosi and Sen. Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., to move quickly.

"The time for Congress to act is now," Voinovich, who co-chairs the Senate Auto Caucus, wrote in a letter Monday to Pelosi and Reid. "We must work swiftly to allow the domestic automotive industry to gain access to emergency assistance. The risk in doing nothing is too great."

Voinovich pointed to a study by the Center for Automotive Research in Ann Arbor, which estimated "that if even one of the domestic automakers were to fail roughly 2.5 million U.S. jobs could be lost as a result of the cascading impact that such a failure would have on auto parts suppliers and related industries such as dealers."

Voinovich and Sen. Carl Levin, D-Detroit, co-wrote a compromise bill that they had hoped would get a vote last month.

Levin said Monday he was "confident" the plans the automakers submit will be "responsive to the request of the Congress" and that "the industry will make a compelling case for bridge loans that will allow the companies to return to firm financial footing."