United Auto Workers President Shawn Fain testifies about the toll of working hours on laborers before the Senate Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee in the Dirksen Senate Office Building on Capitol Hill on March 14, 2024 in Washington, DC.
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DETROIT – United Auto Workers President Shawn Fain is under investigation by a federal court-appointed watchdog who’s tasked with monitoring the union and eliminating corruption, according to a Monday court filing.
The monitor, Neil Barofsky, is investigating whether Fain abused his power as union president, potentially in violation of a 2020 consent decree between the UAW and Justice Department that avoided a federal takeover of the union.
In the court filings, Barofsky also accuses union leaders, including Fain, of obstructing the investigation and interfering with his access to information.
“The Monitor has attempted for months to garner the Union’s cooperation in gathering the information needed to conduct a full investigation, but the Union has effectively slow-rolled the Monitor’s access to requested documents,” the court filing reads.
The UAW did not immediately respond for comment. The union is in the midst of a national organizing drive of non-union automakers.
The filing, which was first reported by The Detroit News, says Barofsky’s concerns largely began in February, after the monitor “began investigating current members of the IEB—including the President, Secretary-Treasurer, and one of the Union’s Regional Directors.”
The probe stems from union leaders removing all responsibilities assigned to Secretary-Treasurer Margaret Mock that were not constitutionally required amid allegations she had engaged in misconduct while carrying out her financial oversight responsibilities.
In response, the filing says Mock “lodged allegations of her own against the Union’s President that, among other things, the charges against her were false, and that the removal of her authority was improperly instigated in retaliation for her refusal or reluctance to authorize certain expenditures.”
This is a developing story. Please check back for additional updates.