(This story has been corrected to show that the UAW reported to the US Department of Labor, not the National Labor Relations Board.)
The United Auto Workers doled out about $13.6 million in legal fees in 2025, with about half of that sum going to the federal monitor overseeing the union, according to new public filings. At the same time, UAW membership grew by about 17,000 members, the largest growth under President Shawn Fain.
The total was revealed earlier this week in the union’s annual financial filings with the U.S. Department of Labor.
The union under Fain has been eager to organize wherever possible, with many members coming from organizing drives at universities in the past few years. The union is not just organizing higher education, though, as two Michigan automotive suppliers recently voted to join the UAW this week — both votes occurring within a 24-hour timespan.
The cost of monitorship
While 2025 was a good year for the union in terms of membership growth, the higher ranks of the union were the subject of several investigations and reports by Neil Barofsky, the monitor who was tasked with overseeing the union and publishing biannual reports about his efforts to root out corruption and wrongdoing in the UAW.
A federal judge appointed Barofsky to watchdog the union as a result of a 2021 consent decree, in which the union agreed to undergo oversight after an ugly, yearslong corruption scandal. The union agreed in the settlement to pay for the cost of the monitorship.
The union battled Barofsky over the disclosure of records, and the monitor released a series of reports about infighting and culture issues among the top brass of the union. In December, Barofsky issued a report that contained text messages and documents the union had previously attempted to withhold, which led to the resignation of Fain’s chief of staff and a series of other changes to the structure of the union.
It was the costliest year of monitorship for the union, with the UAW paying the monitor’s firm more than $7 million, as well as $124,180 in data storage charges related to the monitorship, and another $666,252 charge for monitor-related consulting services to a third-party consulting firm.
The records also show the UAW has enjoyed the most growth in membership since Fain first took office in 2023. The rank and file body of the union grew to 392,447, an increase from 375,161 the previous year.
In an emailed statement, Fain said the UAW “has made a major commitment to building working class power in our core industries, and the results speak for themselves.”
The union did not disclose which sectors contributed the most to the growth in membership.
“We’re honored to welcome these 17,000 new members to the UAW family,” Fain said. “We plan to keep on fighting, keep on winning, and keep on growing the UAW.”
How much did UAW leaders get paid in 2025?
According to the filings, this is how much each member of the union’s international executive board was paid in 2025:
Liam Rappleye covers Stellantis and the UAW for the Detroit Free Press. Contact him: LRappleye@freepress.com.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Membership grows while legal fees abound in UAW financial filings
Reporting by Liam Rappleye, Detroit Free Press / Detroit Free Press
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