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United Auto Workers President Shawn Fain<\/a> is under investigation by the union\u2019s federal corruption watchdog, posing a serious threat to a union celebrity who has taken on some of the world\u2019s largest corporations and forged a close relationship with the Biden administration<\/a>.<\/p>\n The court-appointed monitor,\u00a0Neil Barofsky<\/a>\u00a0of Jenner & Block<\/a> LLP, said in a Monday\u00a0filing<\/a>\u00a0he is investigating allegations that Fain retaliated against another union officer. The 36-page report describes claims of increased stonewalling and non-cooperation by the union, as well as delayed access to documents required under a sweeping\u00a0consent decree<\/a>\u00a0that avoided a full-fledged government takeover in 2020.<\/p>\n The monitor\u2019s report, submitted to the US District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan, poses a liability to Fain, who narrowly won the presidency last year by pledging to eschew top-down leadership and backroom deals that plagued his predecessors. While it\u2019s not yet clear whether the allegations could expose Fain to legal trouble, the document paints the portrait of an organization deeply skeptical of federal efforts to keep the union clean of corruption\u2014a stark contrast to Fain\u2019s public image as a morally centered activist.<\/p>\n The report came the same day the UAW reached a historic contract agreement with electric vehicle battery maker Ultium Cells LLC, a major notch in Fain\u2019s agenda to ease the transition from gas-powered cars. The agreement would more than double wages, from $16.50 per hour in starting pay prior to the union deal to $35 after a year on the job, building on gains made during a 46-day strike last year against the three Detroit automakers.<\/p>\n Fain also led a campaign to unionize a Volkswagen<\/a> plant in Chattanooga, Tenn., in April, landing the\u00a0first major union victory<\/a>\u00a0in the South in decades. But momentum sputtered a month later when Mercedes workers in Vance, Ala., decisively rejected the union.<\/p>\n The report identifies at least two union officials who say they faced retaliation for not approving certain expenditures sought by Fain. Barofsky\u2019s investigation zeros in on a recent incident where Fain stripped duties from an unnamed union vice president overseeing the UAW\u2019s relationship with Stellantis<\/a>, reassigning the division under his own control May 29, citing the official\u2019s \u201cdereliction of duty\u201d related to collective bargaining. That vice president was identified by the\u00a0Detroit Free Press<\/a>\u00a0as Rich Boyer.<\/p>\n Barofsky said he later received allegations from that official, and other unnamed union staff, that Fain\u2019s reasoning was false.<\/p>\n The real reason, they said, was that the vice president refused \u201cto engage in acts of financial misconduct to benefit others.\u201d The report doesn\u2019t say whether Fain is personally accused of misconduct, and suggests that the allegations remain unverified.<\/p>\n \u201cAt this stage, it is important to emphasize that the allegations are just allegations,\u201d it said. \u201cThey prove nothing in themselves, and nothing in this Report should be construed as reaching any conclusion about possible charges, if any, for suspected misconduct.\u201d<\/p>\n In a statement, Fain denied the allegations and said they stem from his efforts to change the union.<\/p>\n \u201cTaking our union in a new direction means sometimes you have to rock the boat, and that upsets people who want to keep the status quo, but our membership expects better and deserves better than the old business as usual,\u201d Fain said. \u201cWe encourage the Monitor to investigate whatever claims are brought to their office, because we know what they\u2019ll find: a UAW leadership committed to serving the membership, and running a democratic union. We\u2019re staying focused on winning record contracts, growing our union, and fighting for economic and social justice on and off the job.\u201d<\/p>\n But perhaps just as damaging are allegations that the union has virtually stopped cooperating with\u2014and in some cases, is obstructing\u2014an array of investigations after the monitor began looking at top officials. Barofsky\u2019s report says the union\u2019s cooperation began to erode in February after he started investigating Fain, Secretary-Treasurer Margaret Mock, and a union regional director.<\/p>\n According to the report, the UAW has slow-walked documents related to an executive board decision in February to curtail some of Mock\u2019s power. The US Department of Justice backed up the monitor\u2019s account in the report, saying the union \u201cis making it difficult, if not impossible, for the Monitor to fulfill his mandate to remove fraud, corruption, and illegality from within the UAW.\u201d<\/p>\n The investigation of Fain is tied to another probe into an executive board decision to\u00a0curtail<\/a>\u00a0Mock\u2019s power. The board in February voted to strip Mock\u2019s oversight of certain departments in response to allegations that she withheld funds for political leverage, and didn\u2019t approve supplies for the strike last fall.<\/p>\n Mock, in response, said the move was retaliation for \u201crefusal or reluctance\u201d to authorize expenditures that would benefit Fain\u2019s office, according to the report.<\/p>\n\n