UAW President Must Forfeit Documents to Watchdog, Judge Says (1)

A federal judge has ordered the United Auto Workers to hand over records it sought to shield from a government watchdog investigating union President Shawn Fain and other top officials.

The order requires Fain to forfeit text messages and other documents as part of wide-ranging probe into his dealings with the union’s executive board. The judge largely sided with federal monitor Neil Barofsky, ordering to quickly produce all unredacted documents sought, with a narrow exception for board meeting minutes and tape recordings that might include confidential bargaining strategy or conversations with attorneys.

The late Monday ruling from Judge David Lawson of the US District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan could spell more legal trouble for Fain and potentially tarnish his image as an outsider who ran against entrenched corruption. It could also set a precedent allowing for more federal oversight of unions, at a time when labor leaders fear harsh and even persecutory treatment under a second Trump administration.

Barofsky is investigating allegations that Fain sought perks for his fiancée while she was employed by the union—and stripped a UAW vice present, Rich Boyer, of key duties when he objected. Fain has told others he removed Boyer as head of the Stellantis department after learning he wasn’t enforcing parts of the 2023 collective bargaining agreement.

The monitor is also investigating a dispute between Fain and Secretary-Treasurer Margaret Mock, who had some of her power stripped by the executive board in February over allegations that she withheld funds for political leverage. Barofsky had accused top officials of “delaying and obstructing” his investigation to by refusing to hand over key documents in a timely manner.

The order doesn’t necessarily mean the UAW documents will become public. The union may still “interpose objections” if the monitor tries to disclose the information to anyone else—even the government. While Barofsky was appointed through the 2020 consent decree and can forward findings to the US Department of Justice in certain instances, he is an independent attorney with Jenner & Block LLP.

The usually defiant Fain struck a conciliatory tone Tuesday, praising Lawson for protecting the union’s attorney-client privilege as it continues to battle Stellantis NV over the terms of the 2023 collective bargaining agreement.

“The union has already handed over millions of pages of information to the Monitor and recently withheld a very small number of documents that concerned sensitive negotiations with employers,” Fain said in a statement. “At a time when we are being sued by powerful companies like Stellantis, it is important for us to be able to keep our bargaining strategy confidential to protect our members and our union.”

The ruling “creates a new process that gives the UAW an opportunity to review information prior to it being communicated by the monitor, which will safeguard our privileged bargaining information and strengthen our ability to represent and fight for our members and the whole working class,” Fain added.

UAW attorneys have argued that the requests breach the bounds of a 2020 agreement with the DOJ to settle a corruption scandal that put two former union presidents behind bars. Fain was never accused of wrongdoing.

UAW attorney Harold Gurewitz told a federal judge in Detroit on Nov. 26 that the union had already produced 2 million pages of documents. The only documents withheld were texts from Fain’s phone, he said.

The union didn’t immediate respond to request for comment on Tuesday.

The case is United States v. UAW, D. Mich., 20-13293, 12/16/24