A court-appointed monitor is investigating United Auto Workers President Shawn Fain for misusing union funds and retaliating against union executives who would not follow orders that benefited him personally.
The investigation stems from UAW Secretary-Treasurer Margaret Mock’s claim that Mr. Fain retaliated against her after she delayed certain expense requests. The alleged retaliation included revoking several of Ms. Mock’s responsibilities, according to a court filing by the monitor, Neil Barofsky.
Additionally, Mr. Fain and other UAW executives are accused of financial misconduct by using union funds for personal purchases.
Mr. Barofsky began investigating Mr. Fain and other UAW executives earlier this year. The investigation is part of a 2021 consent decree that ended a federal corruption investigation into the union.
In the court filing this week, Mr. Barofsky also said that the union has not complied with his requests for documents. After the monitor provided the UAW with a list of over 200,000 documents to review, Mr. Barofksy said the union did not supply any of the documents.
When Mr. Barofsky provided the union with an updated list of 116,000 documents, the union again declined to provide the documents without an opportunity to review them. UAW has said that the 2021 decree that set up the investigation provides the union with the right to review any documents to protect trade secrets and attorney-client privilege.
The investigation comes after a banner year for the UAW, securing historic contracts for its members with the Big Three automakers in 2023 after a massive strike. Additionally, the union successfully organized a union drive at Volkswaggen’s Tennesee facility. However, the union’s advances stalled ever losing its union drive at Mercedes’ Alabama factory.
• Vaughn Cockayne can be reached at vcockayne@washingtontimes.com.
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