News In Brief

UAW says both GM, Ford may become strike targets

The United Automobile Workers increased bargaining pressures on General Motors and Ford this week by breaking with past policies and designating both major automakers as targets for a strike Sept. 15, if two more weeks of intensified negotiations fail.

The decision came after UAW's GM and Ford bargaining councils reacted angrily to company proposals as ''totally inadequate'' and ''unrealistic'' in view of the greatly improved economic situation this year for GM and Ford.

Over the past three decades, UAW has usually concentrated bargaining pressures on a single company in the final stages of negotiation.