United Auto Workers President Sean Fine testifies about the toll hours work takes on workers before the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee at the Dirksen Senate Office Building on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., on March 14, 2024.
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DETROIT — United Auto Workers President Sean Fine is under investigation by a federal court-appointed watchdog tasked with monitoring the union and rooting out corruption, according to a court filing Monday.
Superintendent Neil Barofsky is investigating whether Fine abused his authority as union president. He also accuses union leaders, including Finn, of obstructing the investigation and interfering in his obtaining information.
Such actions would likely violate a 2020 consent decree between the UAW and the U.S. Department of Justice that averted a federal takeover of the union.
“The Observatory has attempted for months to obtain the union’s cooperation in gathering the information necessary to conduct a full investigation, but the union has effectively slowed the Observatory’s access to the requested documents,” the court filing said.
More recently, the file says, the superintendent expanded the investigation to include additional allegations of retaliation by Fine against one of the union's vice presidents.
The comptroller also opened an unrelated investigation into another unnamed UAW executive board, or IEB member, and a regional director, after receiving allegations of possible embezzlement, according to the filing.
UAW President Sean Fine (right) and UAW Treasurer Margaret Mock (left) lead a march outside Stellantis' Ram 1500 plant in Sterling Heights, Michigan, after the union called a strike at the plant on October 23, 2023.
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Without specifically addressing any issues with the file, Fine issued a statement Monday night: “Taking our union in a new direction sometimes means you have to rock the boat, and that upsets some people who want to maintain the status quo, but our membership expects better and deserves better.” It's old business as usual.
“We encourage Al-Monitor to investigate any allegations brought to their office, because we know what they will find: UAW leadership is committed to serving members, and running a democratic union. We remain focused on winning record contracts, growing our union, and fighting for economic and social justice inside and outside of work.” .
The union is in the middle of a national organizing drive for non-union automakers. These accusations come in the wake of Finn's rise to international fame after the federation under his leadership scored record contracts last year with General Motors, ford motor And Stellantis.
The court filing, first reported by The Detroit News, says Barofsky's concerns largely began in February, after the comptroller began “investigating current members of the IEC — including the president, treasurer and one of the association's regional directors.”
The investigation stems from union leaders removing all responsibilities assigned to Treasury Secretary Margaret Mook that were not constitutionally required amid allegations that she engaged in misconduct while carrying out financial oversight responsibilities.
In response, the lawsuit says, Mok “made allegations of her own against the union president that, among other things, the charges against her were false, and that the removal of her authority was improperly instigated in retaliation for her refusal or reluctance to delegate certain authority.” expenses.”
The filing states that more than three months after the comptroller's initial document request, the union produced “a very small portion (about 2,600 documents) of the existing potentially relevant collection of about 116,000 — and with more than 80% of those documents… “It was only produced on June 6, 2024, days before this report was released.”
The controller believes the union's “delay of relevant documents hinders and interferes with his access to information necessary for his investigative work and, if left unaddressed, is a clear violation of the consent decree,” the filing states.
The consent decree followed a years-long corruption investigation into the union, including embezzlement, bribery and other charges. This led to numerous convictions of union leaders and Fiat Chrysler executives, including two former union presidents.
