The Canadian Auto Workers union says it's concerned General Motors could pull out of Canada entirely, affecting about 12,000 workers and hundreds of thousands of indirect jobs, a union leader said Tuesday.

As a meeting of the car company's board of directors entered its second day, and reports indicated GM's Canadian sales dropped by 46.6 per cent in January, CAW Local 222 president Chris Buckley said he urgently wanted to set up a meeting to discuss how to save jobs.

While Buckley has been hard-nosed and talked tough in the past when pressing union demands with the Detroit Three automakers, his tone turned considerably more conciliatory as he spoke of the union's need "to be part of the solution."

"As a union, it makes no sense to ignore this crisis," he said in an interview. "We understand this is a terrible situation, and if we choose to ignore this crisis, there's a possibility General Motors would pull out of Canada."

Buckley also urged the federal government to supply GM with guaranteed loans, as long as they're conditional on the company maintaining operations in Canada.

The union has reached out to the company and is now awaiting a call back, which he expects will follow the company's meeting in Detroit.

Buckley said the union hasn't "closed the door on anything just yet" in terms of cost-cutting measures it is willing to concede.

Federal Industry Minister Tony Clement has said automakers should be reducing labour costs to make the Canadian industry more competitive.

Calls to General Motors Canada seeking comment were not returned Tuesday.

Canadian auto sales figures for January show Chrysler's numbers skidded 33.7 per cent compared with the same month last year, and Ford was down 14.2 per cent.

Honda sales sagged 37.1 per cent; Nissan Canada's sales decreased 16 per cent; and Toyota Canada was off 2.7 per cent.

On the positive side, South Korean automaker Hyundai posted an 18.9 per cent sales gain while Japan's low-volume Mitsubishi was up 9.1 per cent, and Suzuki rose 4.3 per cent.