United Auto Workers President Sean Fain testifies about the impact of long work hours on workers before the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee at Senator Dirksen’s Office Building on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC, on March 14, 2024.
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DETROIT — United Auto Workers President Shawn Fain is under investigation by a federal court-appointed watchdog tasked with monitoring unions and rooting out corruption, according to a court filing Monday.
Monitor Neal Barofsky is investigating whether Fain abused his power as union president and has accused union officials, including Fain, of obstructing the investigation and denying him access to information.
Such actions could violate a consent decree signed in 2020 between the UAW and the U.S. Department of Justice to prevent a federal takeover of the union.
“The 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 effectively delayed providing the Monitor access to the documents it has requested,” court documents state.
More recently, the report said, the monitor expanded the scope of his investigation to include allegations of retaliation by Fain against one of the union’s vice presidents.
The watchdog also opened an unrelated investigation into another unnamed UAW International Executive Board (IEB) member and regional director for suspected embezzlement, according to the filing.
United Auto Workers President Sean Fain, right, and UAW Secretary-Treasurer Margaret Mock, left, lead a march outside Stellantis’ Ram 1500 plant in Sterling Heights, Michigan, after the union called for a strike at the plant on Oct. 23, 2023.
Michael Weiland / CNBC
Fain issued a statement Monday night without specifically addressing the issues in the complaint: “Sometimes you have to rock the boat to lead your union in a new direction. Some who want to maintain the status quo will be upset, but our members expect and deserve better than business as usual.”
“We encourage the Oversight Committee to investigate any allegations brought before their office because we know what they will find. UAW leadership is committed to serving our members and running a democratic union. We are focused on winning a record contract, growing our union and fighting for economic and social justice on and off the workplace.”
The charges come as the union is in the midst of a national organizing drive at non-union automakers. Under Fain’s leadership, the union won a record contract last year and drew international attention. General Motors, Ford Motor Company and Stellantis.
According to court documents first reported by The Detroit News, Barofsky’s concerns primarily began in February after the watchdog “began investigating current members of the IEB, including the president, secretary-treasurer and one of the union’s regional directors.”
The investigation stems from union leaders relieving general secretary-treasurer Margaret Mock of all non-constitutionally required duties amid allegations of misconduct in the discharge of her financial oversight responsibilities.
In response, the filing said, Mock “has made representations to the union president that, among other things, the allegations against her are false and that her removal from the union was wrongfully instigated in retaliation for her refusal or reluctance to approve certain expenditures.”
The filing said that more than three months after the monitor’s initial document request, the union has “only provided a small portion (approximately 2,600) of the approximately 116,000 currently potentially relevant documents, with over 80 percent of those provided only as of June 6, 2024, just days before the publication of this report.”
“The monitors believe that the union’s delay in producing relevant documents has hindered and impeded his access to information necessary for his investigative work and, if allowed to continue, constitutes a clear breach of the consent decree,” the report said.
The consent decree follows a years-long corruption investigation into the union that included embezzlement, bribery and other charges, and which has resulted in the convictions of several union officials and Fiat Chrysler executives, including two former union presidents.
