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.”
