United Auto Workers President Shawn Fain has secured a sweeping second four-year term, dominating internal elections for the union’s International Executive Board. Fain ran alongside the United UAW slate, defeating five challengers in a preliminary ballot count overseen by a federal monitor as the union prepares for major auto contract negotiations.
Shawn Fain Claims Reelection Victory in United UAW Sweep
United Auto Workers President Shawn Fain declared victory on Friday in a race to maintain leadership of the 400,000-member union. Fain secured a majority of the votes and topped five challengers, according to preliminary ballot totals released by the federal monitor overseeing the election.
The victory is not Fain’s alone. He ran with a slate dubbed the United UAW, which swept every seat it ran for, winning preliminary majorities across the union’s regions. Turnout was low and similar to the 2022 election, with roughly 10 percent of the union’s active members and retirees returning their mail ballots, according to In These Times. Preliminary vote counts posted on the court-appointed monitor’s website showed Fain with a commanding lead. Securing just over 13% of the ballots, current UAW Vice President Rich Boyer—who has maintained a multi-year feud with Fain—finished as the runner-up. Fain won a large majority of the vote, securing the post with over 68% of the vote and avoiding a runoff. Fain’s United slate fielded candidates for eleven of the twelve positions on the International Executive Board. Jim Lakeman of Region 9 stands as the sole victorious candidate outside of Fain’s United UAW faction.
Federal Oversight and Internal Dissension Surrounding the Balloting
The election took place under the supervision of a federal monitor appointed in 2021 following a corruption scandal that led to convictions of former union officials. New York attorney Neil Barofsky, who heads the monitoring team, previously clashed with union leadership. Barofsky accused Fain of retaliating against other UAW leaders and of a lack of transparency, according to The Detroit News. A bitter rivalry between Fain and federally appointed UAW monitor Neil Barofsky also frames the election results. December 2023 marked an escalation in the feud after the UAW established itself as the largest union to endorse a ceasefire in Gaza. Both have disputed allegations, describing them as inaccurate and politically motivated.
Despite these disputes and investigations, participating members delivered a clear mandate to the incumbent leadership.
Preparing for 2028 Detroit Three Negotiations
With a renewed mandate, Fain and his executive board face immediate pressure from members to organize for upcoming contract expirations. The Big Three automakers — General Motors Co., Ford Motor Co., and Stellantis NV — watched the election closely as they look ahead to 2028 contract negotiations. Executives are wary of raising labor costs while grappling with weaker vehicle demand and intensifying competition, according to Reuters reporting. Marick Masters, a business professor emeritus at Wayne State University in Detroit, pointed out that leadership at major firms will likely resist any substantial hikes in labor expenses. he said. The recipe is there for a major confrontation with the companies being in a less favorable position to withstand the pressures,
he said.
“One thing I know about our membership is they’re ready to fight,” Fain said in an interview with Reuters. “They know they deserve better. And let’s not fool ourselves. All these companies are massively profitable.”
Shawn Fain, United Auto Workers President
Fain stated that his central objective for the 2028 negotiations is to restore pensions and retiree health care for all autoworkers. Those benefits ended for new hires in 2007 around the near-collapse of domestic US auto companies, and Fain aims to reverse those concessions, building upon the historic 2023 strike agreements. Stephen Silvia, a labor expert from American University, noted that Shawn Fain will continue to take an aggressive approach to collective bargaining. The challenge this time will be that the companies will be well aware
of that approach.
The Legacy of the 2023 Stand-Up Strike
Fain rose to national prominence by leading the 2023 Stand Up Strike against General Motors, Ford, and Stellantis. That unorthodox strategy involved simultaneous strikes at factories across all three automakers for the first time in the union’s history, after Fain insisted on bargaining with all three automakers at once rather than using the historical template pattern.
The resulting agreements delivered 25 percent wage increases over the four-year life of the contracts, eliminated wage tiers, restored cost-of-living adjustments, secured retiree bonuses for the first time in decades, and brought electric vehicle battery production under union master agreements, Jacobin noted. Having ousted incumbent Ray Curry through a runoff following a 2021 member vote that dismantled a seven-decade convention-delegate system, Fain took his official oath as the UAW’s inaugural directly elected president in March 2023.