“I am honored by this historic assignment and look forward to working with the UAW and the government in carrying out the Consent Decree,” Barofsky said in an emailed statement.
The UAW did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
As UAW monitor, he will have the power to bring charges against anyone in the union found to have committed fraud, corruption or illegal behavior, and he has the right to review all “nonconfidential financial data, books, records, audit findings and other similar records” and can disclose that information to members if deemed necessary. Barofsky will also have the right to sit in on all of the union’s International Executive Board meetings except for matters “concerning collective bargaining strategy.”
His team will oversee a referendum that could change how UAW leaders are elected, as members will vote on whether to adopt a one-member, one-vote system.
The independent monitor is among the key points in a six-year consent decree agreed to after prosecutors found evidence of rampant corruption among top union officers, including its past two presidents. Ex-President Dennis Williams on Tuesday was sentenced to 21 months in prison for his role in the scandal, while ex-President Gary Jones awaits sentencing.
