UAW fires top lawyer amid management purge; ousted lobbyist speaks

UAW President Shawn Fain last week fired the union's top lawyer, Abigail Carter, along with two other members of the legal team, after alleging they concealed information from him about ongoing federal investigations.

Meanwhile, Josh Nassar, the union's longtime legislative director ousted earlier this month, said in an interview he had been "systemically cut out of the loop" since Fain was elected and had been told to either leave or be fired, without being given a reason.

The moves are part of Fain's ongoing effort to shake up numerous departments within the union after signaling earlier this year a "purge" would take place should he become president. Fain in March narrowly won election over incumbent Ray Curry in the union's first-ever direct election of officers.

In a memo detailing Carter's firing, first reported by The Detroit News and confirmed by Automotive News, Fain said he made the changes after recently discovering information about ongoing federal investigations into UAW officials that had been kept from him. A federal monitor is overseeing the union and continues to investigate officials as part of a six-year consent decree stemming from a corruption investigation.

Carter collected a base salary of $177,975 in 2022 and was paid another $84,395 in allowances and business reimbursements, according the UAW's annual LM-2 financial disclosure.

A UAW spokesman declined to comment on the firings or the memo.

The Detroit Free Press first reported news of Carter's termination last week.

Nassar, who has been the union's top Washington lobbyist since 2011, told Automotive News he chose to quit after being given the ultimatum earlier this month via a video call with the union's human resources director. He said he's formally leaving the union at the end of the month for another job in the labor sector, but he declined to say where.

In 2022, Nassar collected $146,396 in base salary and another $11,984 in allowances and reimbursements, the UAW's annual disclosure said.

He said he was cut out of decisions since Fain was elected in March, noting that he had no advance notice of leadership's visits to Washington, D.C., or communications with the White House.

"Responsibilities that were mine were no longer mine," Nassar said. "Other folks were doing the role I had been hired to do."

He said he was never provided an answer of why he was told to retire, quit or be fired.

"I assume it's him wanting his own folks," Nassar said of Fain. "He's the sixth president I've worked for. One thing that's been consistent is that they've all re-evaluated all the departments, but they always kept the legislative department intact. To me, that's a testament to the fact that people were happy with the work. But this time was different. There was no interest in hearing from me, basically."

Still, he said he was happy with what his department had achieved, such as winning labor protections in the USMCA trade deal and securing investments in the Inflation Reduction Act and the CHIPS Act.

"We accomplished an awful lot," Nassar said. "I'm proud of that record and I hope the union has all the best success in the future. There's nothing more that I want to see than Fain have a successful presidency."