UAW President Shawn Fain Under Investigation

UAW President Shawn Fain is under investigation by an independent Federal Monitor due to allegations of retaliation against other union leaders.

According to a report from Reuters, Monitor Neil Barofsky opened the probe back in February 2024 to review a series of allegations, including one from UAW Secretary-Treasurer Margaret Mock where she claimed to have faced retaliation for her reluctance to authorize certain expenditures for President Fain’s office.

It’s worth noting that Mock is also under investigation.

In a prepared statement, Fain stated that he encouraged the Monitor “to investigate whatever claims are brought to their office, because we know what they’ll find: a UAW leadership committed to serving the membership, and running a democratic union. Taking our union in a new direction means sometimes you have to rock the boat, and that upsets some people who want to keep the status quo.”

Interestingly, Barofsky was appointed as Federal Monitor in 2021, back when the UAW was struggling with a corruption scandal that led to federal convictions of several former leaders. In fact, two former UAW presidents were sentenced to time in prison. Furthermore, Barofsky expanded his probe to include allegations made by Fain against Rich Boyer, the leader of the union’s Stellantis division.

The Federal Monitor allegedly received complaints that Fain’s decision to leverage allegations against Boyer was an act of retaliation, as the latter refused to engage in acts of financial misconduct to benefit others. Beyond that, Barofsky stated that the union had not produced the documents he requested quickly enough. For reference, UAW officials have turned over roughly 2,600 documents of the potentially relevant pool of about 116,000 documents.

Notably, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) also informed Barofsky that the union’s position was “making it difficult, if not impossible, for the Monitor to fulfill his mandate to remove fraud, corruption and illegality from within the UAW.”

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