UAW Monitor Investigating Whether Fain Sought Perks for Fiancée

A federal watchdog is probing whether United Autoworkers President Shawn Fain retaliated against a top official for refusing to divert benefits to his fiancée, according to federal court records.

The disclosure came as part of the latest filing by Neil Barofsky, the court-appointed monitor tasked with cleaning up the union after a corruption scandal put top officials behind bars. It portrays an escalating standoff between Barofsky and the UAW, with top union officials “delaying and obstructing” the investigations of Fain and two deputies by refusing to hand over key documents.

Fain in May stripped duties from Rich Boyer, the UAW vice president overseeing the union’s dealings with Stellantis, reassigning the division under his own control. Fain cited a “dereliction” of Boyer’s collective bargaining duties.

Boyer and other unnamed people soon after complained to the monitor that Fain’s explanation was false. The real reason, they said, was that Boyer refused “to accede to demands by [the President] and his agents that [the Vice President] take actions . . . that would have benefitted [the President’s] domestic partner and her sister,” the monitor’s report says.

Fain is engaged to Keesha McConaghie, according to his UAW profile. McConaghie is a financial analyst at the UAW-Chrysler National Training Center, where Fain was previously a co-director.

UAW spokesman Jonah Furman declined to comment on the filing. McConaghie couldn’t be reached by phone, and didn’t respond to emails seeking comment.

“Taking 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,” Fain said previously. “We encourage the Monitor to investigate whatever claims are brought to their office, because we know what they’ll find: a UAW leadership committed to serving the membership, and running a democratic union.”

The monitor is also investigating a dispute between Fain and Secretary-Treasurer Margaret Mock, who had some of her power removed by the International Executive Board in February in response to allegations that she withheld funds for political leverage.

In response, Mock alleged that she faced retaliation for, among other things, refusing to authorize unspecified expenditures “at the request of and/or for the benefit of those in the President’s Office, and was an attempt to dilute her authority to make similar denials in the future.”

The information was included as part of a broader request by Barofsky to force the UAW to hand over documents promptly, including those it deemed to be privileged.

The case is United States v. UAW, E.D. Mich., No. 20-13293