A review of the United Auto Workers official filings with the U.S. Department of Labor for 2025 show some eye-raising expenditures.
For starters, the union had to spend $8.3 million on monitoring its own leadership.
The funds were paid to the law firm appointed by a federal court to monitor top union leadership in the wake of the corruption scandal that sent two past presidents to prison.
That’s nearly identical to the $8.5 million the UAW paid out in strike benefits to its members. But that’s only the beginning.
Officer compensation accounted for another $3.3 million, paid to just 15 top officials.
More than a dozen union officers were paid more than $200,000 last year.
One “health and safety specialist” received $520,244 in salary and expenses–an extraordinary amount for an unelected official.
The UAW’s staff members also drew an average of $112,000 each.
Then there’s the money spent on conferences at luxury destinations: the Atlanta Marriott ($706,791), TradeWinds Resort in St. Petersburg, Florida ($650,423), Grand Hyatt San Diego ($450,118), and Hyatt Regency Louisville ($379,016). That’s over $2.1 million at just four hotels.
In addition, the filing shows the UAW carries $161 million in net value for its Black Lake education center and golf course in Northern Michigan. That’s a golf resort on the books of a union whose members were getting laid off.
Despite years of corruption investigations and multiple convictions related to the use of joint training centers to illegally funnel money to union officials, the UAW still received over $16 million from such programs with GM, Ford, and Stellantis in 2025.
The complete 2025 LM-2 is available through the DOL’s OLMS search portal — search UAW, LM-2, 2025. The full filing runs 330 pages.
Taken together, the numbers tell a story of a $1.25 billion institution that spent almost exactly as much policing its own leadership’s corruption as it spent supporting its members. And even more when you factor in exorbitant spending at luxury destinations.