The United Auto Workers union does not appear to be on the path to sustainable cultural reform, a court-appointed watchdog said Friday in a critical report that raises questions about President Shawn Fain's leadership and the union's willingness to emerge from a corruption scandal that led to two dozen convictions and sent numerous labor leaders to federal prison.

The watchdog, lawyer Neil Barofsky, aired the conclusion in a quarterly report to U.S. District Judge David Lawson, who gained broad control of a deal to oversee the UAW in 2020 following a years-long public corruption scandal. The scandal sent two former union presidents, Gary Jones and Dennis Williams, to federal prison along with several others convicted of breaking labor laws, stealing union funds and receiving bribes, kickbacks and illegal benefits from contractors and auto executives.

In the new report, Barofsky portrayed UAW leaders as more focused on political infighting and settling personal grievances than reforming a corrupt labor organization with a recent history of leaders stealing money from rank-and-file workers and spending union money on lavish trips, liquor and cigars.

"Without such cultural reform, it is only a matter of time before abuse and corruption creep back into the union as an inevitable byproduct of leaders who foster a culture of divisiveness or who treat compliance rules and ethical norms as niceties that can be discarded when they become inconvenient," Barofsky wrote.

There was no immediate response from UAW spokespeople Friday.

The report was filed five months after another critical report from Barofsky. In the earlier report, he accused Fain of illegitimately retaliating against the second most-powerful leader of the union in stripping her of power after threatening to "slit" the "throats" of anyone who "messed" with his inner circle.

In the five years since the court started overseeing the union, the UAW remains steeped in fear and division within the union’s upper echelon, Barofsky wrote in Friday's report.

He pointed to an earlier spat between Fain and UAW Secretary-Treasurer Margaret Mock, the second-highest-ranking leader of the union. Fain stripped her of oversight of union departments and reassigned her board positions.

Barofsky has called for reversing Fain's actions amid an ongoing investigation focused on the president and "allegations concerning a retaliatory pattern of conduct."

High-ranking UAW leaders, including members of the union’s governing board, would only talk to Barofsky anonymously due to “their own fear of retaliation,” according to the report.

People “are scared to death, scared to lose jobs if they don’t march to (Fain’s) tune,” one board member said.

The member summarized Fain's approach as: “You’re either with me or against me.”

Another board member called Fain vindictive and focused on extracting payback. One employee said people feel “constantly on eggshells” regarding Fain’s potential to retaliate and fire people for appearing to support Mock.

The watchdog credited UAW leaders with making progress addressing recommendations and improving the union’s ethics and compliance program. The compliance program was created in the wake of the corruption scandal to install reforms that would enable the UAW to be free of court oversight.

But the compliance office has been co-opted by Fain as a “tool” for the president’s office to retaliate against Mock, the monitor wrote, and its director recently resigned.

“The union now stands at a genuine inflection point,” he wrote. “The challenges to timely adopting the necessary reforms to produce a culture of compliance are difficult, but not insurmountable.”

There have been some encouraging signs, he added. Barofsky cited instances of Fain’s office cooperating with the secretary-treasurer’s staff in recent weeks, he wrote.

But he reiterated an earlier call to restore Mock’s powers “for no organization can credibly claim that it is fostering a culture of non-retaliation while at the same leaving in place retaliatory sanctions against a senior officer who was punished for her enforcement of the Union’s anti-corruption policies.”

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