Negotiators for both sides, who were meeting for the 20th consecutive day on Sunday in Detroit, stepped up the pace in a bid to complete a tentative contract, two people briefed on progress in the talks said.
A contract would have to be ratified by GM's 73,000 UAW-represented workers.
The first step in that process would be for the union's leadership to brief the UAW's local leaders on the deal, something that could happen as soon as Monday, according to one of the sources, who asked not to be identified because of the private nature of the negotiations.
GM and the UAW have agreed to the broad terms of a deal that would reduce GM's nearly $5 billion annual health-care bill, people briefed on the talks said on Saturday.
Although the details were not yet available, the ground-breaking deal would allow GM to shift responsibility for retiree health care to a new trust fund.
Wall Street analysts have said such a step could cut GM's costs by $3 billion annually in exchange for a one-time payment expected to top $30 billion.
The outcome of the contract talks is seen as crucial to efforts by the three Detroit-based automakers -- GM, Ford Motor Co and Chrysler LLC -- to recover from combined losses of $15 billion last year and sales difficulties that have driven their share of the U.S. market below 50 percent.

Reuters