Fain makes Time's 100 Most Influential People

Apr. 19—Kokomo native and UAW leader Shawn Fain has made Time Magazine's Top 100 Influential People of 2024.

Categorized under "Innovators," Fain's blurb is written by U.S. President Joe Biden, who in September made history as the first sitting president to join the picket line of striking labor union when he joined striking UAW workers in Michigan.

"The historic wage increases the UAW won under Shawn's leadership carry forward the powerful legacy of labor leader and fellow UAW president Walter Reuther, and have led virtually every auto-maker across the country to follow suit," Biden wrote. "They remind us that when unions win, all workers benefit ...

"Shawn represents the hard-won success that unions — from the Teamsters, to the SEIU, to writers and actors, dockworkers and health care workers, baristas, warehouse workers, and more — had in making 2023 the year of the union. They proved what I've always said: Wall Street didn't build America. The middle class built America. And unions built the middle class."

Fain became the first-ever directly elected president of the UAW in 2023, running on a platform of reform, ending 77 consecutive years of rule by the Administration Caucus, which was founded by Walter Reuther and ran the union since 1946.

Until last year, the leaders of the UAW had always been chosen by delegates to a convention rather than by rank-and-file union members. But in the aftermath of a bribery and embezzlement scandal involving high-ranking union officials, members voted to hold a direct election.

Last fall, Fain led the union on a "Standup Strike" against the Big Three automakers.

A new labor contract was struck with the auto manufacturers in November.

The new contract agreements were widely seen as a victory for the UAW. The companies agreed to raise pay for top-scale assembly plant workers, with increases and cost-of-living adjustments that would translate into 33% wage gains. Top assembly plant workers are to receive immediate 11% raises and will earn roughly $42 an hour when the contracts expire in April of 2028.

Since then, Fain has focused his efforts to unionize non-UAW represented plants, specifically in the south, where the union has historically had less influence.

Born in Kokomo, Fain first joined the UAW in 1994 as an electrician at the Chrysler (now Stellantis) Kokomo Casting Plant. He has served five terms as a Skilled Trades Committeeperson and Shop Chair at Local 1166 and for 10 years as a UAW International representative.

He was active at both Local 1166 and in the community, having previously served on the Kokomo Plan Commission, the Howard County Board of Health and the Kokomo Board of Aviation Commissioners. He also unsuccessfully ran for Kokomo School Board and Howard County Council.

He is the son of the late Roger Fain, a former Kokomo police chief.

Tyler Juranovich can be reached at 765-454-8577, by email at tyler.juranovich@kokomotribune.com or on Twitter at @tylerjuranovich.