US justice department investigating UAW president over corruption allegations

The US Department of Justice is investigating allegations against the United Auto Workers (UAW) president, Shawn Fain, that he put pressure on another high-ranking union official to provide benefits to his fiancee and sister and then retaliated against the official who refused to approve it.

On Sunday, Fain, who is running for his second term as union president, said the accusations are false and a part of election interference against him.

Last month, the union’s court-appointed monitor released a report alleging that Fain improperly used his authority to push for a financial bonus for his fiancee and get worker’s compensation for his sister, Bloomberg reported.

When Rich Boyer, UAW’s vice-president, refused to approve the benefits, Fain removed him as chief negotiator with carmaker Stellantis NV. The report ultimately deferred a decision on disciplinary action, and a federal grand jury subpoenaed the monitor over its report.

In 2021, a federal court by consent decree appointed Neil Barofsky to be the independent monitor of the United Auto Workers after a corruption scandal at the union. Barofsky was previously appointed by George W Bush in 2008 to oversee the $700bn bailout of Wall Street.

Fain was elected as a reform candidate to serve as president of the union in March 2023. Boyer ran as a challenger for a union executive board position and won in 2022 in the first direct ballot election.

Fain alleges that the monitor has been weaponized by Boyer, his election rival, ahead of the labor union elections that begin in August.

“Let’s be clear about what’s going on here: 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. He knows he can’t win a fair fight because he has no real platform to run on,” Fain said in a statement.

Fain argued in a statement that the conflict between him and Boyer actually stems from Fain’s refusal to permit Boyer to hire family members into union positions.

“The truth when it comes to Boyer is that I didn’t want him running the Stellantis department because he wasn’t doing a good job for our members,” Fain added. “I wouldn’t let him hire family members into UAW positions, and I wouldn’t stand by while he bargained concessions with Stellantis and failed to enforce our contract.”

Fain meanwhile accused Barofsky of holding a “political grudge” over the union’s support for a ceasefire in Gaza. In 2023, the UAW signed on to a petition calling for a ceasefire in Israel and Palestine, a move that Fain publicly praised in December 2023 speech.

“I’m done being silent. Neil Barofsky has a political grudge against me because the UAW took an anti-war stance about what was happening in Gaza,” Fain said.

The UAW’s outside counsel, in a February 2024 email, accused Barofsky of “a surprising lack of integrity” after Barofsky questioned the union’s position on the war in Gaza. At the time, the UAW was the largest union to call for a ceasefire in 2023, which the monitor deemed “inappropriate as your office holds disproportionate power over the UAW”, reported the Detroit News.

Barofsky also forwarded to the union a letter from the Anti-Defamation League, which voiced concerns about a UAW Local’s statement in support of a ceasefire. The Detroit News reported that Barofsky “acknowledged the matter was outside the monitor’s jurisdiction but said he was forwarding it ‘given the serious concerns raised here’.”

The Department of Justice and Boyer did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Barofsky did not respond to multiple requests for comment.