UAW president under investigation by federal monitor

DETROIT – United Auto Workers President Shawn Fain is under investigation by a federal court-appointed watchdog tasked with monitoring the union and rooting out corruption, according to a Monday court filing.

Monitor Neil Barofsky is investigating whether Fain abused his power as union president. He also accuses union leaders, including Fain, of obstructing the investigation and obstructing his access to information.

Such actions could potentially violate a 2020 consent decree between the UAW and the U.S. Department of Justice that avoided a federal takeover of the union.

“Monitor has attempted for months to obtain the Union’s cooperation in gathering the information necessary to conduct a full investigation, but the Union has successfully obstructed Monitor’s access to the requested documents,” the court papers read.

Recent records show the monitor has expanded its investigation to include additional allegations of retaliation by Fain against one of the union’s vice presidents.

The monitor also opened an unrelated investigation into another unnamed member of the UAW’s International Executive Board, or IEB, a regional director, after receiving allegations of potential embezzlement, records show.

Without specifically addressing any issues in the filing, Fain issued a statement Monday evening: “Taking a modern direction for our union means that sometimes you have to change your mind, and that upsets some people who want to maintain the status quo, but our membership expects that it is better and deserves better than business as usual.

“We encourage the Monitor to investigate any claims brought to their office because we know what they will find: UAW leadership committed to serving members and leading a democratic union. “We are focused on winning record deals, growing our union, and fighting for economic and social justice on and off the job.”

The union is in the middle of a nationwide organizing campaign of non-affiliated car manufacturers. The accusations come after Fain rose to international prominence after the union under his leadership won record contracts last year with General Motors, Ford engine AND Stellar.

The filing, first reported by The Detroit News, shows that Barofsky’s concerns largely began in February, after the monitoring unit “began an investigation into current IEB members – including the President, Secretary-Treasurer and one of the Association’s regional directors.

The investigation follows union leaders’ removal of all assigned duties Secretary-Treasurer Małgorzata Mock that were not constitutionally required following allegations that she had engaged in misconduct in the performance of her financial oversight duties.

In response, the letter states that Mock “made her own allegations against the Chairwoman of the Association, including: alleging that the allegations against her are false and that the deprivation of her powers was initiated improperly in retaliation for her refusal or unwillingness to authorize certain expenses.”

The filing states that more than three months after the monitor’s initial request for the document, the union created “a very diminutive portion (approximately 2,600 documents) of a now potentially significant pool of approximately 116,000 documents, with over 80% of these documents produced solely as of June 6 2024, a few days before the publication of this report.”

The monitor believes that “the union’s delay in providing relevant documents impedes and disrupts its access to information needed for its investigative work and, if left unaddressed, constitutes a clear violation of the consent decree,” the filing said.

The consent decree followed a years-long corruption investigation into the union, including embezzlement, bribery and other allegations. It led to several convictions of labor leaders and Fiat Chrysler executives, including two former union presidents.