UAW observer calls for judicial intervention as Fain administration blocks bureaucratic investigation

A man arrives at a UAW hall in Des Moines, Iowa, on Thursday, January 14, 2016. (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky)

On Monday, the court-appointed watchdog tasked with overseeing the investigation into the ongoing corruption scandal within the leadership of the United Auto Workers (UAW) union filed a motion in federal court asking Judge David Lawson to order the UAW to produce documents the bureaucracy has withheld related to the misappropriation of funds and other potentially criminal conduct.

While the union leader is careful to keep the facts of the investigation from reaching rank-and-file autoworkers, his motion and the 16 exhibits it attaches make clear that any claims that the UAW bureaucracy has been “reformed” are patently false and that the union leadership itself is on the verge of collapse.

The first sentence of the Observer’s motion for judicial intervention begins: “The success of the settlement between the United States (i.e., the federal government) and the UAW is at a critical juncture. The UAW’s refusal to promptly produce documents requested by the Observer to investigate three current members of the union’s highest governing body, the International Executive Board, jeopardizes the purpose of the Observer’s appointment and the objectives of the settlement.”

The UAW bureaucracy “has effectively blocked the monitor’s work,” the motion says. The ongoing investigation into member dues misuse by UAW President Shawn Fain, Vice President Richard Boyer, Secretary-Treasurer Margaret Mock and an as-yet-unnamed regional director “would likely have been completed by now had the union complied with the monitor’s demands.”

Because of the UAW’s obstructionism, the union leader has been unable to “effectively discharge his responsibility to ‘eliminate fraud, corruption, illegal conduct, dishonesty and unethical practices from the UAW.'” The motion states that the UAW’s efforts to block the release of internal documents “deprived the union leader of the opportunity to fully uncover the facts” and that “the union leader cannot discharge his duty to investigate and address allegations of corruption and criminal misconduct by top union leaders under the union’s interpretation of the settlement agreement.”

The UAW bureaucracy’s refusal to release all documents related to the monitor’s search terms makes it imperative that all of these documents be made available to the rank and file immediately. It also underscores the need for new UAW elections to oust the corrupt leadership and return power to the workplace, as the International Workers Alliance of Rank-and-File Committees called for in a statement last week.

The UAW has refused to provide the watchdog with documents that mention overt threats or criminal acts of violence, including “cut throat,” “slit throat,” “punch,” “slap,” “knock out,” and, worryingly, “kill.” It is withholding emails and messages that contain the words “destroy,” “abuse,” “intimidate,” “threaten,” “harass,” “yell,” “blacklist,” and “fear,” as well as a number of vile profanities that are not fit for print.

The UAW also blocks access to terms that indicate abuse of member dues, including “quid pro quo,” “credit card,” “money,” “travel,” “funds,” “car,” “rent,” “gas,” “hotel,” “room,” “account,” “funds,” “pay,” “reimburse,” “breakfast,” “lunch,” “dinner,” “takeout,” “delivery,” and the entire term “request for approval of exception to travel and expense policy.” The Observer suggested these search terms because he has information indicating that such terms can be found in UAW documents.

Other documents submitted as evidence provide clues to people and methods of investigation. An internal appeal by Richard Boyer states that Shawn Fain asked for favors for his “partner and her sister, which violated the financial practices of the UAW Code of Ethics.” Fain’s fiancé is a financial analyst at the UAW-Chrysler National Training Center, where Fain was previously co-director.

The monitor also makes obscure references to a “2018 incident involving Harvey Hawkins, a bureaucrat. Another document, referencing various other bureaucrats, includes attachments titled “Email from Chris Brooks (Communications Director) Online Store,” “Dave Green (Region 2B Director) Call 2/14/24,” “Expense Policy Exception from Lauren Farrell (International Representative Region 9),” “Mike Miller (Region 6 Director) United Farm Workers,” and “Yard Sign Design and Shipping Information.”

If top UAW bureaucrats in the Fain administration were innocent, they would rush to produce documents exonerating them. Instead, bureaucracy is preventing the facts from coming to light. As the Observer’s report states: “On February 29, 2024, the Observer sent a letter to the union’s general counsel requesting that the union produce six categories of documents related to the investigation of the president, secretary and treasurer. More than a month later, on April 3, 2024, the union produced just 18 documents in response to that request, all from a union employee…”

The Observer’s motion states that after filing the ninth status report on June 18, 2024, outlining the expanding investigations into top UAW bureaucrats, it attempted to engage in dialogue with the bureaucracy to avoid having to ask the federal court to intervene to prevent the oversight function from failing. According to the Observer, the UAW and its lawyers refused to do so, even when the Justice Department advised them otherwise. The result of that failure was the filing of Monday’s motion.

The union leader makes it clear that he wants to help the UAW bureaucracy keep the details of the investigation secret from the rank and file, particularly regarding the sellout contracts it has negotiated with the auto companies in 2023. In a footnote on page 17 of the motion, the union leader writes: “The union appears to fear not that its control over collective bargaining will be compromised, but that collective information could be disclosed. This fear is unfounded, as the union leader has had access to highly sensitive union documents since the beginning of his tenure and did not inadvertently disclose this information.”

Elsewhere, the monitor indicates that it will not publicly disclose the name of the regional director accused of embezzling member contributions, but does not provide any explanation as to why.

In other words, the Monitor has systematically colluded with the bureaucracy to prevent the facts about the sellout contracts from becoming known to the more than one million active and retired rank-and-file UAW members. The Monitor and the bureaucracy are well aware that anger is growing in factories and in university halls across the country over the corporate-friendly deals the bureaucracy has negotiated behind workers’ backs. Thousands of temporary and full-time workers have lost their jobs because of the Big Three’s 2023 contracts. Academic staff who are members of the UAW face police attacks and expulsion from University of California campuses when they exercise their right to free speech to protest the genocide in Gaza.

Monday’s filing shows that the “surveillance agency”‘s alleged purpose has failed. For years, top politicians, UAW bureaucrats and the surveillance law firms themselves have claimed that the election of Shawn Fain in 2023 led to fundamental change in the UAW and that the years-long corruption scandal was a thing of the past. That’s why the surveillance agency and the UAW bureaucracy worked together to depress turnout in the 2022 national officer election: to deny the rank-and-file the chance to abolish the apparatus and help the bureaucracy “save face” so it can better suppress the working class.

The goal of the UAW and the poll watchdog (which consisted of two corporate law firms, Jenner & Block and Crowell & Moring) was to ensure that the race would be between two bureaucrats, Ray Curry and Shawn Fain, without representation from the base. Will Lehman, a socialist autoworker from Macungie, Pennsylvania, ran and won by nearly 5,000 votes despite massive voter suppression. Two weeks ago, the federal judge overseeing the corruption scandal awarded Lehman a victory in his lawsuit against Biden’s Labor Department, which had refused to open an investigation into voter suppression.

In response to Monday’s filing, Lehman issued the following statement:

The bureaucracy’s term is coming to an end. Thousands of autoworkers are facing layoffs because the bureaucracy lied about the 2023 contracts. Academics are being attacked by police for protesting. Workers like Tywaun Long at Ford and Daulton Simmers at Caterpillar are dying on the job because of workers’ excessive work pace and unsafe working conditions. Auto bosses are traveling the world talking openly about how many plants they will close. And what is the bureaucracy doing? It is desperately trying to hide the evidence of its ongoing corruption and its conspiracies with the companies.

The auto companies’ lawyers at the surveillance firms have done everything they can to work with and prop up the bureaucracy. The surveillance agency has agreed to limit search terms and reduce the number of documents requested from 200,000 to 100,000. But the corruption and parasitism in the bureaucracy are proving too much for the surveillance agency to handle. We workers must take control to abolish the bureaucracy and return power to the grassroots. That is why I am calling for new elections with full voting rights for all.

Related Posts

“Suspend!” Marjorie Taylor Greene is slammed by GOP leader at hearing with Dr. Fauci

Cyberattack hits major London hospitals

Salina man hospitalized after motorcycle accident