A federally appointed monitor found United Auto Workers, or UAW, President Shawn Fain retaliated against a top officer and improperly used his authority to benefit his fiancée and her sister, the monitor said.
New York attorney Neil Barofsky, the monitor overseeing UAW activities, released the report on Thursday and said that although some evidence could warrant disciplinary action he has deferred a decision pending further review; the report was published just ahead of a UAW leadership election in which Fain is campaigning for a second four-year term.
Fain denied the findings in a statement and wrote, "Now, more than two years after becoming aware of Vice President Boyer's allegations, and on the eve of our election, Mr. Barofsky has chosen to publicly release a politically charged and false report about me. The most reasonable conclusion is that he is playing political games and abusing his power," the statement was dated on Tuesday and released on Thursday, and Fain also said he is the victim of "bogus allegations."
A spokesperson for Jenner & Block, the law firm that employs Barofsky, said he has "acted with the highest levels of professionalism, integrity, and respect in his roles in public service, private practice, and as a DOJ-appointed monitor."
The monitor's report said Fain pushed for bonuses for non-union employees at a Stellantis training center and pressed Stellantis and union leaders to intervene in a workers' compensation matter for his fiancée's sister, and it states that Fain retaliated against Vice President Rich Boyer by stripping him of certain duties before the union reassigned those duties back to Boyer following a previous monitor report.
When Boyer refused to approve the benefits, the monitor's report says Fain removed him as chief negotiator with Stellantis.
The Justice Department is investigating allegations that Fain favored his fiancée.
A federal grand jury subpoenaed the monitor over the report, the latest legal development tied to the allegations.
The UAW has been under federal oversight since a 2020 settlement with the U.S. Department of Justice, and the monitor's office issues periodic reports; the report noted that Fain rose to prominence in 2023 after leading strikes against General Motors, Ford Motor and Jeep maker Stellantis, that the allegations have bruised his reputation among some UAW members, and that Boyer is one of several candidates running against Fain while executives at the Detroit carmakers would be closely watching the election.
Art Wheaton, a labor studies professor at Cornell University, said that although the federal watchdog can take severe disciplinary action, some of which could affect Fain's ability to run for office, "the potential for drastic or criminal punishment in the case does not appear likely to reach that level."
In 2021 a federal court by consent decree appointed Barofsky to be the independent monitor of the United Auto Workers after a corruption scandal at the union, and Barofsky was previously appointed in 2008 to oversee the $700 billion bailout of Wall Street.
Fain was elected as a reform candidate in March 2023, and Boyer ran as a challenger for a union executive board position and won in 2022 in the first direct ballot election.
Fain has alleged that the monitor has been weaponized by Boyer ahead of the labor union elections that begin in August, and he said, "Rich Boyer has fed the monitor false allegations about me and is now trying to weaponize these bogus allegations to steal the upcoming UAW election."
Fain has also said the conflict with Boyer stems from his refusal to permit Boyer to hire family members into union positions and accused Boyer of bargaining concessions with Stellantis and failing to enforce the union contract.
Fain accused Barofsky of holding a "political grudge" over the union's support for a ceasefire in Gaza; the UAW signed on to a petition calling for a ceasefire in 2023 and Fain publicly praised the move in a December 2023 speech, the report said.
The monitor forwarded a letter from the Anti-Defamation League raising concerns about a UAW local's statement in support of a ceasefire and acknowledged the matter was outside his jurisdiction; the union's outside counsel in February 2024 accused Barofsky of "a surprising lack of integrity" after Barofsky questioned the UAW's position on the war in Gaza.
The Justice Department and Boyer did not immediately respond to requests for comment, and Barofsky did not respond to multiple requests for comment.