For three years, people doubted my reporting on scandals within the UAW because they wanted to believe in the hype of UAW President Shawn Fain. Some even attacked me personally for having the courage to warn the labor movement about what could happen to the union's organizing momentum under these folks' leadership.
However, as a veteran labor reporter, I had covered some of the players who were around Shawn Fain in other unions and knew their reputations. I've also covered the UAW for more than 15 years, including covering three different union elections at Volkswagen on the ground in Chattanooga, the scandals that led to several UAW leaders going to jail, and traveled to 5 states to cover the disastrous 2019 GM Strike.
I had an extensive network of sources within the UAW that I built up over a decade of reporting, and the warning signs I was hearing about Shawn Fain early on were scary.
In March of 2023, shortly after Shawn Fain was elected as UAW President, Payday published our first piece warning that Fain was already purging his former allies who had supported his election. Already, there were signs that UAW Chief of Staff Chris Brooks intended to push aside anyone who slightly disagreed with him. (See our March 2023 story "UAW Challenger Fain Purges Top Allies in Favor of Brooklyn Consultants").
Afterwards, one longtime donor called me upset about my reporting and said they would stop donating to us. Others also stopped giving me money as a result. However, I kept going because I knew the truth about what was happening and was worried that this type of dissident purging could hurt the organizing momentum that the UAW had at the time.
In August of 2024, after poring through hundreds of pages and conducting a dozen interviews, I wrote a piece outlining a troubling pattern of purges and "show trials" that were emerging within the UAW. (See our August 2024 story "UAW Federal Monitor Investigates Fain’s Purge of Top Allies While Convicted Felon Steers UAW Legal")
In June of 2025, I kept following the trail of documents. I showed that the UAW was violating the consent decree by not allowing contracts for union services to be openly bid. (See our June 2025 story "UAW Prez Threatened to “Slit the Throats' of Critics as He Pushed No-Bid Contracts with DC Firms")
Yesterday, with the news that UAW Chief of Staff Chris Brooks was forced out of the union for fabricating evidence to illegally purge union dissidents and lying to federal investigators, Payday’s reporting was proven accurate. (See our story "UAW Prez Deleted 123 Messages as Chief of Staff Chris Brooks Forced Out Over Corruption Charges")
The effects of this dissident purging have severely hurt the organizing momentum the union had following the popularity of the 2023 "Stand Up Strike".
Two years ago, the UAW announced a massive effort to unionize non-union employers following the publicity it generated during the “Stand Up Strike.” So far, though, the UAW has failed to come up with the much-anticipated victories after winning at Chattanooga Volkswagen in 2024, where 72% of workers voted in favor of the union.
In May of 2024, after filing for a union election with more than 70% of workers signed up at Mercedes in Alabama, the UAW lost the election by a margin of 44%-56%. In August, the UAW won a narrow vote at BlueOval Kentucky by a margin of 526-515, with 41 ballots still currently being challenged, a margin that many union organizers said was too narrow at a time when other unions are winning at similar manufacturing plants by much larger margins.
The recent lopsided, more than 2-1, defeat of the UAW at a Hard Rock Casino in Rockford, an employer where two other unions won easily earlier in the year, raises troubling questions about what is happening inside the UAW. The union has faced massive turmoil and infighting, leading many veteran organizers to leave, to be replaced by much younger, inexperienced organizers.
Like many of you, I wanted to believe in Shawn Fain's promise, but what I was hearing from people within the union gave me cause for concern. Unfortunately, many didn't listen to the reporting, and we lost some donors as a result, but we could afford to do that because so many of our readers wanted to know the truth.
To the readers who stayed with us during this time, thank you so much for believing what we said and weighing the extensive evidence that we presented.
Next year, the UAW will hold only the second election in its history, in which each union member will be able to vote for the president and members of the executive board. Payday intends to cover this election fairly and honestly, and we need your help to do it.
Support our mission
Donate Yearly
Donate Monthly
One-Time Donation
Patreon
Venmo
