Shawn Fain was Kamala Harris’ most forceful union backer. It could cost him his job

United Auto Workers union President Shawn Fain was one of the most prominent union leaders backing Vice President Kamala Harris in this year’s US presidential election and one of the harshest critics of Donald Trump while on the campaign trail.

United Auto Workers union President Shawn Fain was one of the most prominent union leaders backing Vice President Kamala Harris in this year’s US presidential election and one of the harshest critics of Donald Trump while on the campaign trail. And because of that, he’ll have a powerful enemy when Trump takes back the White House on January 20. But making powerful enemies is nothing new for Fain. During his less than two years atop the UAW, Fain has taken on risky fights against powerful adversaries – and often won. In May 2023 he toppled the long-entrenched leadership of the UAW, running as an outsider in the first popular vote for the union presidenvy. Despite winning by only a 500-vote margin, Fain took quick action, leading the first-ever strike against against GM, Ford and Stellantis, at the same time in September, a strategy few industry observers thought the union would try after decades of striking only one company at a time. He ended up winning record contracts that included an immediate wage increase of at least 11% and a $5,000 signing bonus, raises totaling 25% through the four-year life of the contract, a return of cost-of-living adjustments to protect against inflation and increased job security guarantees. He then announced an effort to organize 13 nonunion automakers and quickly succeeded at Volkswagen, the first automaker to unionize in the United States in decades.