Shawn Fain stood on the DNC stage in 2024 and called Donald Trump a scab in front of the whole country.
Now the union boss who campaigned for Kamala Harris is under federal investigation by Trump's Justice Department.
And what the grand jury just subpoenaed could end Fain's career before UAW members ever get to vote him out.
UAW Corruption History Made Fain the Fourth President Under DOJ Investigation
Fain ran for United Auto Workers president in 2022 on a straight reform ticket.
The pitch was simple: the old guard was corrupt, he was clean, and union members could trust him with their dues money.
Federal prosecutors had just convicted two UAW presidents in a row – Dennis Williams sentenced to 21 months in federal prison, Gary Jones sentenced to 28 months – along with 14 other UAW officials and Stellantis executives who raided the union's coffers for golf clubs, Palm Springs villas, and $60,000 worth of cigars.
Michigan repealed its right-to-work law in 2023, which means autoworkers in the state have no legal choice but to keep paying union dues the UAW – even as its fourth president in a row faces a federal investigation.
The DOJ put the entire union under a consent decree and appointed New York attorney Neil Barofsky as federal monitor to watch every move the new leadership made.
Fain was supposed to be the clean break.
He wasn't.
The Grand Jury Probe Into Fain Fiancée Bonus and UAW Dues Abuse
The DOJ opened a grand jury investigation into claims that Fain leaned on UAW Vice President Rich Boyer to deliver cash benefits for his fiancée and secure a workers' compensation claim for her sister.
The grand jury subpoenaed Barofsky's office – and the monitor's findings are now federal evidence.
Those findings show Fain pushed for a bonus pool at a Stellantis training center where his fiancée worked, and retaliated against Boyer and UAW Secretary-Treasurer Margaret Mock when they refused to go along.
Fain called the monitor's reports "politically charged and false" and accused Barofsky of "playing political games and abusing his power."
Every corrupt union boss runs the same playbook when federal investigators show up.
Dennis Williams said he was being set up.
Gary Jones blamed his subordinates.
Fain is blaming a 2024 fight with Barofsky over a UAW pro-Gaza resolution – claiming a policy dispute is why the monitor is targeting him.
The DOJ doesn't open grand jury investigations over policy disagreements.
Federal Monitor Documented Retaliation Before DOJ Opened the Investigation
Shawn Fain is the fourth UAW president in recent years to face a DOJ investigation.
Williams was convicted. Jones was convicted. Rory Gamble was investigated and escaped charges. Fain now has a grand jury underway.
The federal consent decree that brought Barofsky in was supposed to end this pattern – instead it handed investigators a front-row seat and a paper trail.
The oversight system Fain inherited – built specifically because his predecessors looted the union – is now the mechanism catching him.
Shawn Fain Campaigned for Kamala Harris and Now Faces a Union Corruption Probe
When Fain took the stage at the 2024 Democrat National Convention in Chicago, he stripped off his jacket to reveal a shirt reading "Trump Is a Scab."
The crowd chanted it back at him.
He told the arena that the election came down to one question: "Which side are you on?"
Fain picked a side – and now his own union's court-appointed monitor has been subpoenaed to testify against him.
UAW members in Michigan, Ohio, and Indiana sent Fain to Chicago to represent their interests.
What he did instead was turn their union into a political prop for a losing Democrat campaign while using his office to route their money toward his own family.
The UAW's corruption problem has never been about which reformer wins the election – it has always been about what the reformer does once he realizes the dues keep coming regardless.
Fain knew Barofsky was filing reports to a federal judge.
He did it anyway.
Sources:
- Grayson Quay, "Shawn Fain Decries DOJ Investigation Over Allegations He Abused His Office," Washington Examiner, July 13, 2026.
- "Former International UAW President Gary Jones Sentenced to Prison for Embezzling Union Funds," U.S. Department of Justice, June 10, 2021.
- "Former International UAW President Dennis Williams Sentenced to Prison for Embezzling Union Funds," U.S. Department of Justice, May 11, 2021.
- "UAW President Shawn Fain Wears Trump Is a Scab Shirt in DNC Speech," USA Today, August 20, 2024.
- "DOJ Investigates UAW President Shawn Fain Over Alleged Favors, Retaliation," Detroit News, July 12, 2026.