By Kalea Hall and Nora Eckert
DETROIT, Dec 18 (Reuters) - A key United Auto Workers strategist and architect of the union’s 2023 auto-factory strike is leaving the labor group, after a report by the federal monitor overseeing the UAW concluded that he was part of a campaign to improperly remove duties from another union leader.
Chris Brooks, chief of staff to UAW President Shawn Fain, will no longer be employed by the union as of December 31, according to a report released on Thursday by the monitor’s
office.
The UAW has been under federal oversight following a 2020 settlement between the UAW and the U.S. Department of Justice to resolve a union corruption scandal. The monitor, attorney Neil Barofsky, issues periodic reports about the union’s inner workings.
In the report, the monitor said Brooks and other union leaders improperly sought to have duties removed from the UAW’s secretary-treasurer, Margaret Mock, in early 2024. The monitor also said that Brooks made “false and misleading statements” to the monitor’s office.
Brooks didn’t respond to requests for comment. The union said it does not comment on personnel matters.
On Thursday, Fain said he would reinstate Mock to her former departments.
The monitor's report references a text message that it says Brooks sent to another staffer regarding his role in removing Mock’s duties: “My strategy was flawless this week. Like everything went perfectly to plan . . . it feels really good. Like how [I] imagine it feels to epically dunk on another player in basketball.”
Tensions between Fain and Mock have been evident since February 2024, when Fain removed Mock from some of her responsibilities. This past June, the monitor said that some of Fain’s actions were improper and driven by retaliation.
Additionally, Reuters reported in June that union leaders, including Mock and Fain, were in turmoil over allegations of an investment blunder that UAW officials have said cost the union about $80 million in potential gains from its financial portfolio.
The monitor, in its report on Thursday, called the union’s recent actions, including holding Brooks accountable for the treatment of Mock, steps that signal “to union staff and membership that the union is willing to address acts of retaliation, even at the highest level of the union.”
The turnover in Fain’s office comes as he faces another presidential election next year, after narrowly winning one in 2023. The UAW also has been trying to organize the factories of foreign automakers.
Fain on Thursday said in a statement he was appointing a new senior leadership team, including a new chief of staff, Brandon Keatts, a longtime top administrative assistant.
“My hope is that these changes strengthen our union and help us focus on our critical work as we gear up for 2028 and the many big fights ahead,” Fain said in a statement, referring to the next big round of negotiations between the union and automakers.
Brooks was seen as one of the main masterminds of the union’s unorthodox strike strategy in 2023, in which it had workers walk out of selective factories simultaneously at Ford Motor, General Motors and Stellantis.
The plan created operational chaos for the car companies during the heated contract talks. After roughly six weeks, the companies agreed to raise workers’ wages by about 25% over the life of the contract.
(Reporting by Nora Eckert and Kalea Hall in Detroit; Editing by Mike Colias and Andrea Ricci )
