Shawn Fain will be the United Auto Workers president for four more years.
The incumbent UAW president claimed victory in a news release late Friday, Oct. 9. Fain was overwhelmingly reelected by UAW members in the union's leadership elections, securing the post with over 68% of the vote. Rich Boyer, the UAW's current vice president who has been at odds with Fain for years, came in second place with just over 13% of the vote. In total, nearly 100,000 votes were cast.
It is a striking referendum on the popularity of Fain, who led the union through widely publicized strikes against the Detroit Three automakers in 2023 just months after taking office for the first time. Fain has catapulted into the political circuit, too, becoming a common figure at rallies
for pro-labor Democrat politicians and candidates.
Under Fain's direction, the union finally secured a contract in Chattanooga, Tennessee, at a Volkswagen plant after years of organizing and has filled out its ranks with a wider base of union members, including many graduate students at universities.
Fain has promised, if elected, to fight for pensions and retiree healthcare when the current Detroit Three contracts expire in 2028 — threatening to strike once more until those goals are actualized.
The monitor overseeing the union has yet to officially call the election, but by late Friday unofficial vote counts compiled by election observers indicated a resounding victory for Fain. Official vote tallies will be posted online and distributed to union locals "as soon as possible," according to the monitor's election rules.
The victory is not Fain's alone — he ran with a slate dubbed the United UAW, which won every seat it ran for, according to unofficial numbers from election observers in Rosemont, Illinois, where ballots are being counted.
Fain's victory comes despite allegations of misconduct in office, which are now before a federal grand jury.
Fain has been under intense scrutiny over allegations that he can be hotheaded and vindictive as the union's president. The UAW has been under a court-appointed monitorship as part of a settlement reached following a corruption scandal, settled in 2021. Since then, New York-based attorney Neil Barofsky has been overseeing the union and publishing reports about every six months regarding the internal goings-on in the UAW.
Fain and his alleged penchant for retaliation have been the subject of many of these reports, causing some strife between Fain and Barofsky. That spilled over in July, when news broke that Fain would be the subject of a federal grand jury investigation into claims he improperly used his office to secure benefits for members of his family. Some details of those allegations came to light in one of the monitor's reports, as Barofsky investigated claims that Fain has retaliated against Boyer, a vice president of the UAW who has now lost to Fain in his bid for the top seat.
A full timeline of the breakdown between Fain and the monitor, leading to the grand jury investigation, can be found on Freep.com.
Fain, too, was found by the monitor to have inappropriately punished Margaret Mock, the secretary-treasurer of the union. Mock, who ran again to be secretary-treasurer, lost to Brandon Campbell, the Fain-aligned current director of Region 4, who ran to replace Mock.
"The membership has spoken. UAW members are united and want us to keep fighting and building on what we’ve done," Fain said in a news release. "We’re fired up for negotiations at places like John Deere, Volvo, and General Dynamics Land Systems in 2027, leading up to the Big Three contracts expiring on May Day 2028."
The new UAW International Executive Board
This is the new makeup of the International Executive Board following the election held the week of Oct. 6. All winning candidates are part of Fain's United UAW slate, except for Jim Lakeman in Region 9. United UAW did not run a candidate in that region:
- President: Shawn Fain
- Secretary-Treasurer: Brandon Campbell
- Vice Presidents (3): Laura Dickerson; Kevin Gotinsky; Ryan Hiestand
- Region 1 Director: LaShawn English
- Region 1A Director: Mark DePaoli
- Region 1D Director: Scott Zuckschwerdt
- Region 2B Director: David Green
- Region 4 Director: Lucas DeSpain
- Region 6 Director: Mike Miller
- Region 8 Director: Tim Smith
- Region 9 Director: Jim Lakeman
- Region 9A Director: Brandon Mancilla
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: Shawn Fain reelected, will be UAW president for 4 more years
