Posts tagged Shawn Fain
Exclusive-UAW investment blunder cost the union an estimated $80 million, documents show
June 24, 2025 // The board voted to liquidate about $340 million in stock investments in August 2023 to pay strike costs, according to a union document reviewed by Reuters. The wording of the vote stipulated that the money be reinvested according to union policy after the strike ended and the labor contracts were ratified, though it didn't specify how quickly. But almost none of its portfolio was invested in stocks during the year after the strike began in September 2023, according to the records reviewed by Reuters. The news agency was unable to establish why the stock investment wasn't made. The issue of why the union did not reinvest the funds for more than a year is now being investigated by the federal monitor which was appointed as part of a 2020 settlement between the UAW and the U.S. Department of Justice to resolve a union corruption scandal, according to a statement from a majority of UAW board members.
UAW watchdog faults Fain, portrays him as angry foul-mouthed leader who targeted underling
June 18, 2025 // United Auto Workers President Shawn Fain illegitimately retaliated against the second most-powerful leader of the union in stripping her of power after threatening to "slit" the "throats" of anyone who "messed" with his inner circle, a government watchdog said late Tuesday. The watchdog, lawyer Neil Barofsky, leveled the allegation in a quarterly report delivered to U.S. District Judge David Lawson, who gained broad control of a deal to oversee the UAW in 2020 following a years-long public corruption scandal. The scandal sent two former union presidents, Gary Jones and Dennis Williams, to federal prison along with several others convicted of breaking labor laws, stealing union funds and receiving bribes, kickbacks and illegal benefits from contractors and auto executives.
Workers at Pratt & Whitney, Electric Boat consider strikes
May 5, 2025 // The company has acknowledged it has been “actively preparing a business continuity plan in the event of a work stoppage,” adding it will “not waver from our commitment to continue building submarines, the nation’s top national security priority.”
UAW Reformers Close Caucus, Launch New Organization
May 1, 2025 // The resolution to dissolve, which passed by a vote of 160 to 137, stated, “It is clear to us that the coalition of members that came together to achieve UAWD’s greatest successes can no longer work together toward common goals… There are two different visions for the kind of organization we need to build to advance a more militant union.” Opponents said the majority group should work through the internal conflicts or leave, rather than close the caucus. “These have been tensions since the beginning, and we worked through them,” said Jeremy Bunyaner, a tenant attorney and longtime caucus activist. “Do you not believe we can work together? Then leave, don’t shut it down.”
Union Workers Turn on Trump Tariffs: ‘Direct Attack on the Working Class’
April 29, 2025 // While the ILWU said that decades of free trade agreements had "negatively impacted American workers," it criticized Trump's approach to addressing this as "haphazard and destructive," while warning that the costs of food, energy and household goods would rise as a result. Similar warnings have been issued by associations representing the retail and home construction sectors, while the United Auto Workers union (UAW)—which had previously voice its support for "aggressive tariff action to protect American manufacturing jobs"—has recently offered a more critical view on Trump's import duties.
Trump’s tariffs hurt the working class. Why are some unions on board?
April 28, 2025 // “In truth, our trade deals were not really trade deals; they were investment deals. Their goal was not to promote America’s exports — it was to make it easier for global corporations to move capital offshore and ship goods back to America,” Richard Trumka, the former president of AFL-CIO, said in 2015. “The logical outcome was trade deficits and falling wages, and that’s exactly what we got.” For unions, tariffs were a part of the answer to failures of free trade along with other protectionist policies. But to free trade proponents, tariffs represent a break from consensus and threaten to break down trade relations across the globe.
CT Electric Boat workers OK strike option, as UAW President Fain tells company ‘clock is ticking’
April 17, 2025 // Among Local 571’s demands are record wage increases, pensions for all members, a cost-of-living adjustment, profit sharing and better health care benefits. In the meantime, Local 571 members are working under the terms of their expired agreement. Electric Boat officials were not immediately available for comment on Monday night. Company officials said in a statement last week that they had “presented our best and final offer” to the union in the previous week. They added that their offer “provides historic wage growth, a continuation of our premium benefits package and retirement enhancement for all employees.”
UAW Leader Gets $275K Payday While Union Dips Further Into Red
April 3, 2025 // Given the fact that former UAW president Gary Jones pleaded guilty to using union money to pay for personal expenses and was sentenced to 28 months in prison in 2021, it’s no surprise that members are keeping a close eye on executive pay. In Fain’s case, while his gross salary was $229,514, total payments from the union, including official business disbursements, reached $274,407 in 2024. The next top earner within the UAW was Secretary-Treasurer Margaret Mock,who earned a salary of $224,861, with total payments amounting to $247,169. Vice Presidents Mike Booth, Rich Boyer, and Chuck Browning all received the same $211,001 in gross salaries, while the head of the union’s Stellantis department, Kevin Gotinsky, had a total salary of $177,942. As reported by the Detroit Free Press, the UAW’s membership grew from 370,239 in 2023 to 375,161 in 2024. This came thanks in part to its successful effort to unionize the VW plant in Chattanooga, Tennessee, but remains down from the 383,003 members it had in 2022.
Face The Nation UAW president Shawn Fain says “tariffs are a tool in the toolbox” in helping auto workers
April 1, 2025 // "Tariffs are a tool in the toolbox to get these companies to do the right thing, and the intent behind it is to bring jobs back here, and, you know, invest in the American workers," Fain told CBS News chief Washington correspondent Major Garrett in an interview that aired Sunday on "Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan." Mr. Trump announced the 25% tariffs last week, which he said will take effect on April 2, escalating his administration's effort to boost domestic manufacturers through aggressive trade measures. Fain, who leads the 400,000-member union that went on a 46-day strike in 2023, called the tariffs a "motivator,"
UAW files labor charges against VW over Chattanooga worker buyouts
March 14, 2025 // The UAW said in a statement the company is attempting to cut jobs and make major changes without first negotiating with the union as required by law. UAW President Shawn Fain said that nearly a year ago, thousands of Volkswagen workers in Chattanooga voted to join the UAW to "win the respect and dignified life that union autoworkers at the Big Three have enjoyed for generations." "Since then, the company has failed to meet the basic standard at the bargaining table that 150,000 American autoworkers have won at Ford, General Motors and Stellantis," he said in the statement.