Small investors in General Motors Corp. (GM) on Thursday accused the Obama administration of shutting them out of negotiations over the restructuring of the auto maker and demanded a meeting with the president's auto task force.

About a dozen bondholders said at a morning news conference in Washington that the task force, which is leading the restructuring talks, has placed their interests far behind those of the United Auto Workers union. They criticized a government-backed offer that would give the bondholders a small equity stake in GM in exchange for billions of dollars in debt, pointing out that the UAW has been offered a bigger equity stake for a smaller amount of debt.

"We represent middle America. We are the savers," said Jim Dillahunty, a retired bond trader from Southern California. "I don't know of any speculators here. What we expect as lenders of our hard-earned capital ... is fair treatment."

He was flanked by other bondholders, many of them retirees, who held handwritten signs with messages such as, "Small Bondholders Must Have Their Say." Members one by one stepped to a lectern and described how they had purchased GM bonds years ago to save for retirement or to finance their children's college educations. Now, they said, their investments stand to be wiped out under a deal one bondholder called "stunningly unfair."

The deal backed by the government calls for the bondholders to exchange $27 billion in unsecured debt for a small equity stake in a slimmed-down GM. The group, calling themselves "Main Street Bondholders" and claiming to represent hundreds of small investors around the country, spent Wednesday and Thursday lobbying members of Congress to oppose the deal.

The bondholders said they have not been called to the table by the Treasury Department's auto task force.

A Treasury spokeswoman declined to comment Thursday, but a source familiar with the task force said the task force met with bondholder representatives Wednesday night and Thursday morning and continues to work with them in restructuring talks.

GM spokesman Greg Martin declined to comment on talks with bondholders, but said, "It was very clear from the task force that we needed to take more aggressive actions to restructure operations and reduce liabilities and debt on our balance sheet."

The $27 billion in unsecured debt is held by small investors and large institutions alike. The Main Street bondholders say about quarter of all GM bondholders are "average" Americans who depend on the investments for retirement, medical expenses, small-business expenses and college educations.

Robert Mitchell of New Orleans said he and his wife first purchased GM bonds 10 years ago, hoping the investment would supplement their retirement savings.

"We had great plans, great hopes" for the investments in GM, he said, adding their investments could be saved if the government backed off on plans to push the company into bankruptcy. "The company could survive if we could derail this bankruptcy."

Other bondholders have suggested they'd fare off better in bankruptcy court than by accepting the company's current offer.

-By Josh Mitchell, Dow Jones Newswires; josh.mitchell@dowjones.com; (202) 862-6637