The United Auto Workers’ court-appointed monitor — a lawyer tasked with overseeing the union as it recovers from an ugly corruption scandal — issued a report in federal court warning that leadership must take reform seriously or run the risk of “abuse and corruption creep(ing) back” in.
The report, issued Friday (Nov. 14), says the UAW is tainted by “a toxic culture of division and retaliation at the highest levels of the organization,” with blame pointed at the popular — though divisive — union president, Shawn Fain, and his closest allies.
The monitor, Neil Barofsky of the law firm Jenner and Block LLP, has been overseeing the union since 2021 as part of a consent decree after significant corruption charges that landed several former presidents and leaders in prison. Barofsky was assigned to oversee the union until 2027.
In his latest report (which are typically issued every six months), Barofsky warns that the UAW must act quickly if it wants the monitorship to end on time. If the monitor suggests, and a judge agrees, that the UAW is not ready, the monitorship could be extended.
“As of the date of this Thirteenth Status Report, for the reasons discussed below, the Union does not appear to be on the path to sustainable cultural reform,” Barofsky wrote. “The reality is stark: the current prioritization of political infighting and settling personal grievances over meaningful reform are stalling improvement and undermining good faith attempts to complete the necessary compliance infrastructure.”
What’s in the report?
The monitor’s 67-page report details the status of the UAW’s compliance infrastructure and a “toxic” internal culture, but also points to some positive growth in compliance in the union.
The job atop the compliance department was recently vacated when Marni Schroeder resigned a few months after being accused of conspiring with Fain on a scheme to strip the second-highest-ranking member of the union, Secretary-Treasurer Margaret Mock, of her duties — an action the monitor labeled “vindictive” and unfair in his previous report.
The Detroit Free Press initially reported on Schroeder’s resignation, but could not confirm her reason at the time for resigning.
The monitor, however, clarified: “(Schroeder) resigned from the position after the Monitor uncovered evidencethat she had been fully co-opted by the President’s Office in their retaliatory effort to remove departments from the Secretary-Treasurer’s oversight and attempted to conceal her role in those efforts from the Monitor.”
Schroeder declined to comment.
The monitor also details data from internal culture surveys, revealing a sweeping fear among union members of retaliation from the president and his team if they appear to disagree with him.
The monitor writes: “Union employees described feeling ‘constantly on eggshells’ regarding the President’s potential to retaliate, fearing they will lose their jobs for saying ‘too much’ or appearing to be ‘on the Secretary-Treasurer’s side.'” adding that, “one employee told the Monitor that the culture of fear and retaliation at the UAW has never been this bad.”
The monitor also said, though, that he has seen some progress toward a better functioning union. The UAW completed internal audits he recommended, filled vacant jobs and held all-staff meetings with more regularity.
‘Only a matter of time’
The monitor warned that the UAW must take his recommendations of reform and compliance seriously, saying that otherwise, “it is only a matter of time before abuse and corruption creep back into the Union as an inevitable byproduct of leaders who foster a culture of divisiveness or who treat compliance rules and ethical norms as niceties that can be discarded when they become inconvenient.”
To achieve such reform, Barosky said, Mock must be given her duties back.
“No organization can credibly claim that it is fostering a culture of non-retaliation while at the same time leaving in place retaliatory sanctions against a senior officer who was punished for her enforcement of the Union’s anti-corruption policies,” he wrote.
Barofsky reports that after Mock was stripped of her duties by Fain, other members of union leadership took notice, creating a culture in which top-level leaders of the union feel afraid to speak up, fearing that they, too, will be punished for appearing on Mock’s side.
“Union personnel are fearful to call out corruption or misconduct for fear of losing their jobs,” Barofsky said, citing data from internal culture surveys that reveals more than half of members surveyed would not report misconduct for fear of retaliation.
Barofsky said that fear of speaking up is “the death knell for an effective anti-corruption regime.”
More to come on Mock
The monitor published his previous report, alleging that Fain unfairly retaliated against Mock, in June.
While critical of Mock’s treatment, the monitor also added that he has seen some progress in terms of collaboration between Mock and Fain’s office.
“Indeed, the Monitor has observed some green shoots of positive change since some of the abuses described in the Twelfth Status Report have been exposed,” the report reads. “For example, the Monitor has observed some instances of cooperation between the President’s Office and the Secretary-Treasurer’s Office in recent weeks — cooperation that offers a glimpse of what is possible when leaders work constructively toward shared goals.”
However, Barofsky indicated that he is not done investigating the circumstances around what was essentially a demotion of Mock. He will be filing a supplement to the twelfth report, adding more detail to the story, “in the near future.”
UAW leadership is currently reviewing a draft of the supplement, he said.
The supplemental report, Barofsky wrote, will dive further into the use of Schroeder, the former head of the compliance department, “as a Trojan horse to advance false accusations against the Secretary-Treasurer in order to limit her authority to serve as a check on the spending of Union funds.”
In this latest report, Barofsky recommends the union promptly install a new compliance director who is “genuinely committed to independence and transparency.”
The recommendation, he says, is an essential step for the union if it hopes to “reverse course, and renounce the same-old culture of fear and retaliation and embrace one of inclusion and reform.”
The Free Press has reached out to UAW leadership for comment.
(This is a developing story. Come back to freep.com for more details.)
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: Watchdog releases report on UAW infighting: ‘Toxic culture of division and retaliation’
Reporting by Liam Rappleye, Detroit Free Press / Detroit Free Press
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