UAW membership fell 3.3 percent last year to 370,239, its lowest mark since 2009, according to the annual financial report filed by the union.
The dip erases gains made in 2022 and comes despite promises by second-year UAW President Shawn Fain to continue growing the union’s ranks through an ambitious organizing drive of transplant automakers. The LM-2 report, filed with the Department of Labor, compares union membership as of December 2023 with the same period a year earlier.
“It’s important to understand these documents are a snapshot of our membership count on Dec 31, 2023. The reality is the numbers fluctuate,” the UAW said in a statement Friday.
“That said, we are clear-eyed that our union and many of our industries have been going in the wrong direction for years, which is why we’ve made a historic commitment to organizing the rest of the auto industry, tens of thousands of higher education workers, and everyone in our core industries from heavy truck to agricultural implements to aerospace.”
Following prolonged work stoppages at Ford, General Motors and Stellantis last fall, the UAW paid out $152 million in strike benefits, more than triple the previous reporting period. The union, which increased strike pay for members ahead of the Detroit 3 contract negotiations, also elected to provide equivalent compensation for thousands of workers who were laid off as a result of its targeted walkouts.
Strike-related costs last year also included $27,295 for “rain ponchos for strikers” and $37,350 for yard signs related to the Detroit 3 strike, the filing showed.
The union reported net assets of $1.1 billion and almost $4 million in liabilities at the end of the reporting period.
Fain, who was elected by a slim margin just over a year ago, received compensation of $228,872. His predecessor, Ray Curry, received $267,126 in 2022. Fain’s compensation became a topic of conversation during last year’s contract negotiations as he attacked the salaries of the Detroit 3’s CEOs, which are much higher, and at one point wore a T-shirt that said “eat the rich” on a Facebook stream.
Secretary-Treasurer Margaret Mock received $224,929 in compensation, according to the filing.
The union also paid law firm Jenner & Block roughly $5.1 million for services related to its court-appointed monitor, according to the filing, slightly less than the $5.5 million it paid the firm in the previous reporting period.
The Detroit News first reported on the membership figure and other filing details.