Shawn Fain

Shawn Fain (born 1968) is an American labor unionist who has served as president of the United Auto Workers (UAW) since March 2023. An electrician by trade, he worked at a Stellantis automotive parts plant in Kokomo, Indiana. He has been a UAW member for 29 years, and is a member of the reform caucus, Unite All Workers for Democracy (UAWD). Fain was the first UAW president directly elected by the union's members, and was a central figure in the 2023 United Auto Workers strike.

In 2023, Fain ran for the presidency of the union against incumbent Ray Curry, leading a slate named UAW Members United that focused on opposing corruption, concessions, and tiered pay structures. In the first election in which members of the union directly elected the president, Fain won the election by 477 votes and took office in March.

In office, he advocates a more aggressive negotiating style, more member participation, and for the union to actively support politicians who share the union's agenda. Fain's relative labor militancy and bargaining style contributed to the UAW's decision to authorize the 2023 United Auto Workers strike.

Early life
Fain was born in Kokomo, Indiana, on October 30, 1968. He is the grandson of two UAW GM retirees. His grandfather started at Chrysler in 1937, the year Chrysler workers joined the UAW after a sit-down strike. His father served as the police chief of the Kokomo Police Department. Fain is a graduate of Taylor High School.

2023 United Auto Workers strike
A few days after his election, Fain told the automakers that the UAW was "fed up with the status quo". During 2023 contract renegotiations, Fain has advocated for an immediate wage increase of 20 percent for workers followed by yearly gradual increases for a total of 46 percent, which he argues would simply be a way to keep up with the enormous CEO wage increases of auto companies in recent decades. The UAW has since lowered the demanded increase to 36 percent. Fain is also calling for the end of tiered wages and benefits, and the roll-back of concessions made by the UAW during the 2007–2008 financial crisis, including the reinstatement of cost-of-living adjustments and robust pensions. Fain's hard line stance during contract renegotiations contributed to the union's decision to begin the 2023 United Auto Workers strike on September 15. It is the first time in the UAW's 88-year history that the union has launched a simultaneous strike against the Big Three automakers.

Fain has garnered significant attention for his unorthodox approach to organizing, with analyst Daniel Ives telling Reuters, "This is not your grandfather's UAW ... Fain is playing this like a chess player. He's leading 21st century negotiations for unions". Fain has embraced social media platforms during the negotiations, publishing short form documentary style videos.

In a profile in The New York Times of October 5, 2023, he stated: "Billionaires in my opinion don't have a right to exist." He is also attributed with: "There's a billionaire class, and there's the rest of us."

He appears in frequent Facebook Lives where he directly addresses UAW members, quoting from the Bible and Malcolm X. In a livestream from early August 2023, Fain can be seen throwing an offer from automaker Stellantis into a waste basket, stating: "That's where it belongs – in the trash – because that's what it is". In September 2023, he said "The September strikes are so far proving effective, and should give employers second thoughts."

2023 mass auto organizing drive
At the end of the 2023 United Auto Workers strike, Fain pledged to unionize more automotive companies, saying, "When we return to the bargaining table in 2028 it won't just be with the Big Three, but with the Big Five or Big Six." On December 7, 2023, the UAW announced that autoworkers at the Volkswagen plant in Chattanooga, Tennessee, had begun a unionization effort, with over 1,000 members signing union cards.