Shawn Fain, President of the United Auto Workers, testifies about the burden of work hours on workers before the 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 tasked with monitoring the union and rooting out corruption, according to a court filing Monday.
Observer Neil Barofsky investigates whether Fain abused his power as union president. He also accuses union leaders, including Fain, of obstructing the investigation and interfering with his access to information.
Such actions could potentially violate a 2020 consent agreement between the UAW and the Justice Department that prevented a federal takeover of the union.
“The Monitor attempted for months to obtain the Union’s cooperation in gathering the information necessary to conduct a comprehensive investigation, but the Union effectively slowed the Monitor’s access to requested documents,” the court filing states.
Recently, the filing states that the monitor expanded the investigation to include additional allegations of retaliation by Fain against one of the union’s vice presidents.
The Observer also launched an independent investigation into another unnamed member of the UAW International Executive Board (IEB), a regional director, after receiving allegations of possible embezzlement, the filing said.
The UAW did not immediately respond for comment.
United Auto Workers President Shawn Fain (right) and UAW Treasurer Margaret Mock (left) lead a march in front of the Stellantis Ram 1500 plant in Sterling Heights, Michigan, after the union on October 23, 2023 had called for a strike at the factory.
Michael Wayland/CNBC
The union is in the midst of a nationwide organizing campaign of non-union automakers. The allegations follow Fain’s rise to international prominence after the union signed record-breaking contracts under his leadership last year General Motors, Ford engine And Stellar.
The court filing, first reported by The Detroit News, said Barofsky’s concerns largely began in February after the Observer “began investigating current members of the IEB — including the president, treasurer and one of the IEB’s regional directors Union”.
The investigation follows union leaders stripping Finance Minister Margaret Mock of all non-constitutional responsibilities assigned to her because she was accused of misconduct in the exercise of her financial oversight duties.
In response, the filing states that Mock “made his own allegations against the President of the Union that, among other things, the allegations made against her were false and that the deprivation of her powers was unjustified in retaliation for her refusal or reluctance to do so.” “Issuing permits was instigated.”
The filing said that more than three months after the Observer’s initial document request, the union had produced “a very small portion (approximately 2,600 documents) of the current potentially relevant pool of approximately 116,000 – and more than 80% of these documents were only available on… “June 6, 2024, days before publication of this report.”
The Observer believes that “the delay of relevant documents by the union hinders and impairs his access to information necessary for his investigative work and, if left unaddressed, constitutes a blatant violation of the Consent Decree,” it says the file.
The consent decree followed a years-long corruption investigation into the union involving embezzlement, bribery and other allegations. This led to several convictions of union leaders and Fiat Chrysler executives, including two former union presidents.
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2024-06-10 21:37:07
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