The United Auto Workers union is about to have an election for its officers and executive board, with ballots going out to all of its members in August. Up for reelection to a second four-year term is UAW President Shawn Fain, who gained a lot of popularity for leading the union in strikes against Detroit's Big Three and standing up to Trump during the 2024 election.
On Sunday, news broke that the federal monitor who was assigned to oversee UAW activities, New York attorney Neil Barofsky, filed a report that alleged Fain of unethical actions, including retaliation against union Vice-President Rich Boyer. The report also alleged that Fain pressured to get bonuses for non-union members at the Stellantis plant, which would have benefited Fain's fiancée and her sister. Barofsky was appointed as the federal monitor of the UAW stemming from a 2020 settlement between the union and the U.S. Department of Justice, resolving a corruption case against several union officers and executives of Stellantis.
It didn't take long for the allegations in the report to start smelling like a scabby rat.
It turns out that Barofsky has had an ongoing grudge against Fain for years. In late 2023, the UAW International Executive Board passed a resolution calling for a ceasefire in Gaza. Barofsky tried to argue with Fain about that position and sent pamphlets from the Anti-Defamation League, which questioned the union's right to take a stance on a boycott of Israel. Barofsky later admitted that this was outside his jurisdiction and that he was trying to impose his own personal beliefs on the union.
Despite his admission, Barofsky then started filing several reports that were hypercritical of the union, especially of Fain. Most of the complaints apparently came from UAW Vice-President Rich Boyer and Secretary-Treasurer Margaret Mock. One report defended Boyer against criticism from Fain. Fain had criticized Boyer for holding a meeting with the union's Stellantis department officers in Puerto Rico even though the union doesn't have any members in Puerto Rico.
In the most recent report, Barofsky is dredging up complaints from Boyer and Mock from two years ago. Mock was relieved of some of her duties when she took actions to undermine the unions' Stand Up Strike actions, such as withholding payments for new picket signs and billboards. Boyer was relieved of some of his duties when he failed to enforce the contract with Stellantis, including their failure to reopen a plant and agreeing to a punitive attendance policy.
In an act of good faith, Fain reinstated the duties to Boyer and Mock. Despite this, Barofsky still brought them up two years later. All he did was manage to rile up Fain, who issued a statement, which included, in part, “Now, more than two years after becoming aware of Vice President Boyer’s allegations, Mr. Barofsky has chosen to release a politically charged and false report about me. The most reasonable conclusion is that he is playing political games and abusing his power.”
While nothing is a foregone conclusion, given Fain's remarkable successes in his first term, I would be very much surprised if the rank and file didn't give him another four years.
