A significant court filing has emerged, revealing claims that the United Auto Workers is not fully cooperating with a federal watchdog. This watchdog is specifically tasked with eliminating corruption within the union, a matter of great importance in the automotive industry.
The watchdog, Neil Barofsky, claims he requested 116,000 documents from the UAW to aid his investigation into, among other things, the actions of President Shawn Fain and Secretary-Treasurer Margaret Mock regarding the alleged removal of Mock’s authority for refusing to authorize certain expenditures.
Recommended Videos
Barofsky says the union has only turned over 2,600 of those 116,000 documents; nearly all were given this past week.
The court filing says the union’s cooperation started to erode in February when Barofsky started investigating higher-ranking members.
“Although the union has cooperated in making UAW employees and senior leaders available to be interviewed by the monitor’s investigative team, the union has not cooperated in producing documents that are relevant to the investigation in a complete and timely manner.”
UAW watchdog's court filing
None of the claims amount to anything criminal but could suggest a violation of the consent decree the union entered in 2020 to prevent a full-scale takeover by the Justice Department.
“Taking our union in a new direction means sometimes you have to rock the boat, and that upsets some people who want to keep the status quo, but our membership expects better and deserves better than the old business as usual. 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. We’re staying focused on winning record contracts, growing our union, and fighting for economic and social justice on and off the job.”
Spokeperson for UAW Andrew Feldman
