Current United Auto Workers President Fain is under investigation

The more things change, the more they stay the same. This may be the case with the United Auto Workers (UAW). Several years after two former UAW leaders were implicated in a massive corruption scheme, reports are emerging that current UAW Chairman Shawn Fain is now under investigation.

According to the Detroit Free Press, “The UAW’s independent watchdog is investigating the actions of union President Shawn Fain and Secretary-Treasurer Margaret Mock amid a union leadership shakeup in recent months. The watchdog is also launching a separate investigation into an unnamed member of the International Executive Board for alleged embezzlement.”

The article goes on to say that Fain is being investigated for allegedly retaliating against a UAW colleague “for, among other things, refusing to engage in financial misconduct to benefit others.”

If the investigation ultimately shows that Fain or other high-ranking UAW officials were involved in illegal activities, it could spell big trouble for the union, which is currently under scrutiny for past scandals. The penalties could be steep both for the individuals and for the union as a whole.

It could also be a notable fall from grace for Fain. Last year, he made big headlines during the UAW’s labor negotiations with the Big Three. Fain orchestrated a series of coordinated strikes at each of the automakers, which the UAW then used to force through what many saw as favorable contract terms.

Fain and the UAW have tried to parlay the newfound attention and enthusiasm into further successes, such as trying to organize companies in the South, where the UAW and other unions have historically performed poorly. But those efforts recently stalled when autoworkers at Mercedes-Benz in Alabama voted against being represented by the UAW.

We’ll see how this plays out, but the UAW seems to be doing something similar.