Transcribed:

Statement from UAW President Shawn Fain

July 12, 2026

I've remained silent on the political infighting in our union over the past two years because it only distracts from our mission as a union and as a movement. But the stakes are too high, and the membership deserves to know the truth.

Let's be clear about what's going on here: Rich Boyer has fed the monitor false allegations about me and is now trying to weaponize these bogus allegations to steal the upcoming UAW election. He knows he can't win a fair fight because he has no real platform to run on.

I'm done being silent. Neil Barofsky has a political grudge against me because the UAW took an anti-war stance about what was happening in Gaza.

I've retained a law firm to fight against the Monitor's trumped-up claims against me. What the Monitor is doing is wrong, it's unfair to the UAW and to you as members, and my lawyers are looking at any and all legal options I can pursue to make it stop.

We are going to fight back hard.

The truth when it comes to Boyer is that I didn't want him running the Stellantis Department because he wasn't doing a good job for our members. I wouldn't let him hire family members into UAW positions, and I wouldn't stand by while he bargained concessions with Stellantis and failed to enforce our contract. Boyer is bad for our union and I'm not going to let him use the Monitor's bogus investigation so he can try to fail upwards into a bigger title.

I've stayed quiet about this because I don't believe it helps our union to have these fights out in public. But make no mistake: our contracts, our jobs, and our union are at stake here. Our members are either going to see through these lies and the nonsense, or let Boyer and Barofsky destroy our union and weaken us at the bargaining table.

We've accomplished more in the past 3 years and 3 months than in the previous decades. This is what happens when you go against corporate America and their allies, and I'm not going to be intimidated or harassed out of serving our membership.

Our election is in 6 weeks. Neil Barofsky will not run our union, no matter how hard he tries. And no company sellout like Boyer is going to dictate our elections.

Our members are the highest authority in our union and they should have the final say.

In solidarity, Shawn Fain Signature: Shawn P. Fain

Statement made in a personal capacity. Titles used for identification purposes only.