CWA · Financial Transparency & LM Reporting

Official Filings

CWA is reviewed here as a parent-union filer. The latest official LM-2 currently available is the fiscal year ending 05/31/2025.

FY ending 05/31/2025: Official filing
FY ending 05/31/2024: Official filing
FY ending 05/31/2023: Official filing

Filing-status note: the FY ending 05/31/2026 LM-2 is not yet due. Under DOL rules, CWA’s next annual filing is due 08/29/2026.

How CWA’s Structure Shapes the Money Flow

CWA is not a single-body financial structure. The parent union, its districts and its sectors / divisions, and its chartered locals all sit within the same constitutional framework, but they do not all report money the same way.

Locals establish membership dues: the CWA Constitution places local membership dues at the local level.
The Convention sets per-capita dues to the Union: locals are required to pay per-capita dues upward to CWA International.
CWA governance includes districts and sectors / divisions: the Constitution provides for district vice presidents and sector / division vice presidents, including the bodies commonly referred to here as CWA-AFA, CWA-NABET, CWA-IUE, and CWA-TNG.
Locals receive money from the International: CWA’s dues guidance explains that, after the International-side deductions are applied to collected dues, the remaining amount is sent to locals by settlement.
Per Capita, Defense Fund, and Members’ Relief Fund are part of the International-side dues structure: CWA’s dues materials say these are amounts due the International. The same materials explain that the local portion is the monthly dues minus Per Capita and Members’ Relief Fund.
These amounts are not broken out by sector in the parent LM-2: the parent CWA LM-2 reports Per Capita Tax as one aggregate amount and does not provide a sector-by-sector breakout of Per Capita, Defense Fund, or Members’ Relief Fund.
Recent processing guidance changes what appears where: after the 80th Convention, CWA says locals are invoiced for Per Capita, Defense Fund, and Members’ Relief Fund amounts tied to members whose dues were not collected, rather than having those amounts automatically deducted in every case.

This is why the parent CWA LM-2 should be read as an upstream money-flow filing. It shows the parent treasury clearly, but it does not by itself answer how much of a member’s dues dollar returns as local service without reading the related sector and local filings too.

CWA LM-2 Report Breakdown

Form LM-2 is the federal government’s most detailed annual financial report for unions with $250,000 or more in annual receipts. For CWA, it is a parent-union filing covering a national organization across many sectors and bargaining units, not a flight-attendant-only treasury.

Items 1–9: these are the filing-header basics. They identify the union, file number, reporting period, whether the filing is amended, hardship-filed, or terminal, the mailing address, and whether the records are kept there.
Items 10–21: these are the governance and activity basics. They show things like PAC activity, outside audit or review, fidelity bond coverage, contingent liabilities, the next regular officer election, membership, and dues / fees information.
Statement A — Assets and Liabilities: this is the balance-sheet section. It shows what CWA reported owning and owing at the start and end of the fiscal year. Total assets are built from cash, accounts receivable, loans receivable, U.S. Treasury securities, investments, fixed assets, and other assets. Total liabilities are built from accounts payable, loans payable, mortgages payable, and other liabilities.
Schedules 1–10: these schedules support Statement A and provide more detail for accounts receivable, loans receivable, sales and purchases of investments or fixed assets, investments, fixed assets, other assets, accounts payable, loans payable, and other liabilities.
Schedules 11 and 12: these report officers, employees, and disbursements to them. This is where the filing shows salaries and other direct or indirect disbursements to named officers and employees.
Schedule 13: this is the membership-status schedule. It helps explain how the membership total in Item 20 is composed.
Statement B — Receipts and Disbursements: this is the annual cash-flow section. It shows what CWA reported receiving and spending during the fiscal year.
Schedule 14 — Other Receipts: this is the catch-all receipt schedule for money that does not belong in the more specific Statement B receipt lines.
Schedule 15 — Representational Activities: this is the main member-service spending category. It covers bargaining, contract administration, grievance handling, and other representational work.
Schedule 16 — Political Activities and Lobbying: this covers political and lobbying-related disbursements.
Schedule 17 — Contributions, Gifts, and Grants: this covers charitable or similar reported transfers.
Schedule 18 — General Overhead: this covers overhead that supports operations but is not allocated to another disbursement category.
Schedule 19 — Union Administration: this covers internal governance and administration, including elections, meetings, and routine union operations.
Schedule 20 — Benefits: this covers direct and indirect benefit disbursements.
Parent-union-specific caution: some of the biggest lines in CWA’s filing are not ordinary operating income or simple operating expense. Line 47 (“From Members for Disbursement on Their Behalf”), line 64 (“On Behalf of Individual Members”), and Schedule 2 loan activity show that the parent filing includes major pass-through and lending activity in addition to representational spending.

The year-by-year sections below should therefore be read as reported filing amounts, not as complete narrative explanations. The purpose is to show what CWA reported in each major section of the LM-2 and what those reported amounts appear to mean.

PAC Activity

CWA’s LM-2 reports that a PAC exists, but the PAC itself is tracked separately through the Federal Election Commission rather than through the union’s LM-2 spending schedules.

Committee name: COMMUNICATIONS WORKERS OF AMERICA - COPE POLITICAL CONTRIBUTIONS COMMITTEE
FEC committee ID: C00002089
Committee type: Labor Organization PAC — Qualified
Registration date: 03/20/1975
Current public cycle summary (2025–2026, coverage through 03/31/2026): total receipts $4,466,962.52; total disbursements $2,539,969.63; beginning cash on hand $2,169,737.60; ending cash on hand $4,096,730.49.

For cross-union comparison, PAC activity should be tracked separately from the LM-2’s representational, administration, benefits, and overhead schedules.

Pass-Through and Loan Lines

CWA’s parent filing looks different from a simpler single-treasury union because it includes very large member pass-through lines and significant loan activity with subordinate bodies.

Member pass-through activity: Statement B line 47 reports cash received from members for disbursement on their behalf, and line 64 reports cash disbursed on behalf of individual members. Those are not the same thing as ordinary operating income or ordinary administrative spending.
Loan activity: Schedule 2 shows loans receivable outstanding with locals and other subordinate bodies. The listed purposes include entries such as member relief and strike support.
Why this matters: these features make the parent CWA filing harder to compare directly with a single-airline or single-property treasury unless the pass-through and loan activity are separated conceptually from ordinary representational spending.

FY2025 Analysis

Filing Header and Governance Basics

File number: 000-188
Period covered: 06/01/2024 through 05/31/2025
Amended / hardship / terminal: No / No / No
Records kept at mailing address: Yes
PAC fund reported: Yes
Outside audit or review reported: Yes
Maximum fidelity bond coverage: $500,000
Next regular election of officers: 08/2027
Members: 682,324
Regular dues: variable; Item 21 refers readers to Item 69 rather than listing one flat regular-dues amount
Initiation fee: $1.00 per member

Statement A — Assets and Liabilities

Cash: $11,308,389
Accounts receivable (Schedule 1): $4,928,861
Loans receivable (Schedule 2): $5,677,772
U.S. Treasury securities: $40,610,196
Investments (Schedule 5): $395,231,547
Fixed assets (Schedule 6): $36,761,633
Other assets (Schedule 7): $19,971,685
Total assets: $514,490,083
Accounts payable (Schedule 8): $8,555,515
Other liabilities (Schedule 10): $132,557,372
Total liabilities: $141,112,887
Net assets: $373,377,196

Statement B — Receipts and Disbursements

Dues and agency fees: $128,514,305
Fees, fines, assessments, work permits: $42,098
Interest: $12,722,834
Dividends: $5,357
Rents: $1,850,579
Sale of investments and fixed assets: $43,650,439
Repayments of loans made: $23,597,703
From members for disbursement on their behalf: $112,023,803
Other receipts (Schedule 14): $9,227,334
Total receipts: $331,634,452
Representational activities (Schedule 15): $55,332,894
Political activities and lobbying (Schedule 16): $17,520,639
Contributions, gifts, and grants (Schedule 17): $527,185
General overhead (Schedule 18): $48,055,380
Union administration (Schedule 19): $22,786,608
Benefits (Schedule 20): $33,248,291
Per capita tax: $5,256,859
Strike benefits: $10,417,270
Purchase of investments and fixed assets: $2,567,226
Loans made: $26,135,614
On behalf of individual members: $111,801,169
Direct taxes: $5,598,945
Total disbursements: $338,401,402

Notable Schedule-Level Signals

Schedule 2 loans receivable, end of period: $5,677,772
Schedule 2 loans made during period: $26,135,614
Schedule 2 repayments received during period: $23,597,703
Schedule 2 listed loan purposes: member relief and strike support appear repeatedly in the itemized schedule
Statement B pass-through lines: line 47 ($112,023,803) and line 64 ($111,801,169) indicate major member-related pass-through activity in the parent filing

FY2024 Analysis

Filing Header and Governance Basics

File number: 000-188
Period covered: 06/01/2023 through 05/31/2024
Amended / hardship / terminal: No / No / No
Records kept at mailing address: Yes
PAC fund reported: Yes
Outside audit or review reported: Yes
Maximum fidelity bond coverage: $500,000
Next regular election of officers: not clearly rendered in the current official page text
Members: 663,346
Regular dues: variable; Item 21 refers readers to Item 69 rather than listing one flat regular-dues amount
Initiation fee: $1.00 per member

Statement A — Assets and Liabilities

Cash: $18,075,339
Accounts receivable (Schedule 1): $5,371,429
Loans receivable (Schedule 2): $3,139,861
U.S. Treasury securities: $2,247,222
Investments (Schedule 5): $478,624,175
Fixed assets (Schedule 6): $35,987,484
Other assets (Schedule 7): $9,331,189
Total assets: $552,776,699
Accounts payable (Schedule 8): $7,040,020
Other liabilities (Schedule 10): $144,022,248
Total liabilities: $151,062,268
Net assets: $401,714,431

Statement B — Receipts and Disbursements

Dues and agency fees: $124,224,565
Interest: $13,307,514
Dividends: $351,532
Rents: $3,097,710
Sale of investments and fixed assets: $35,958,116
Repayments of loans made: $2,982,119
From members for disbursement on their behalf: $115,464,100
Other receipts (Schedule 14): $9,451,991
Total receipts: $304,837,647
Representational activities (Schedule 15): $56,801,560
Political activities and lobbying (Schedule 16): $15,798,504
Contributions, gifts, and grants (Schedule 17): $716,996
General overhead (Schedule 18): $44,142,164
Union administration (Schedule 19): $23,070,617
Benefits (Schedule 20): $32,099,291
Per capita tax: $5,322,848
Strike benefits: $2,345,003
Purchase of investments and fixed assets: $1,214,289
Loans made: $2,541,959
On behalf of individual members: $112,190,260
Direct taxes: $5,886,126
Total disbursements: $301,333,377

Notable Schedule-Level Signals

Schedule 2 loans receivable, end of period: $3,139,861
Schedule 2 loans made during period: $2,541,959
Schedule 2 repayments received during period: $2,982,119
Schedule 2 listed loan purposes: member relief appears repeatedly in the itemized schedule
Statement B pass-through lines: line 47 ($115,464,100) and line 64 ($112,190,260) indicate major member-related pass-through activity in the parent filing

FY2023 Analysis

Filing Header and Governance Basics

File number: 000-188
Period covered: 06/01/2022 through 05/31/2023
Amended / hardship / terminal: No / No / No
Records kept at mailing address: Yes
PAC fund reported: Yes
Outside audit or review reported: Yes
Maximum fidelity bond coverage: $500,000
Next regular election of officers: 07/2023
Members: 648,305
Regular dues: variable; Item 21 refers readers to Item 69 rather than listing one flat regular-dues amount
Initiation fee: $1.00 per member

Statement A — Assets and Liabilities

Cash: $14,595,092
Accounts receivable (Schedule 1): $3,430,225
Loans receivable (Schedule 2): $3,580,021
U.S. Treasury securities: $2,584,014
Investments (Schedule 5): $508,738,468
Fixed assets (Schedule 6): $36,389,093
Other assets (Schedule 7): $217,027
Total assets: $569,533,940
Accounts payable (Schedule 8): $3,792,334
Other liabilities (Schedule 10): $141,672,288
Total liabilities: $145,464,622
Net assets: $424,069,318

Statement B — Receipts and Disbursements

Dues and agency fees: $117,761,479
Interest: $11,992,763
Dividends: $44,290
Rents: $2,758,881
Sale of investments and fixed assets: $24,226,039
Repayments of loans made: $2,616,847
From members for disbursement on their behalf: $107,761,848
Other receipts (Schedule 14): $7,048,565
Total receipts: $274,210,712
Representational activities (Schedule 15): $50,122,482
Political activities and lobbying (Schedule 16): $19,392,225
Contributions, gifts, and grants (Schedule 17): $518,059
General overhead (Schedule 18): $41,385,570
Union administration (Schedule 19): $19,899,392
Benefits (Schedule 20): $30,266,070
Per capita tax: $5,129,527
Strike benefits: $965,589
Loans made: $2,415,463
On behalf of individual members: $106,728,246
Direct taxes: $3,579,083
Total disbursements: $280,388,308

Notable Schedule-Level Signals

Schedule 2 loans receivable, end of period: $3,580,021
Schedule 2 loans made during period: $2,415,463
Schedule 2 repayments received during period: $2,616,847
Schedule 2 listed loan purposes: member relief appears repeatedly in the itemized schedule
Statement B pass-through lines: line 47 ($107,761,848) and line 64 ($106,728,246) indicate major member-related pass-through activity in the parent filing

Summary

CWA’s parent LM-2 provides a strong national-level financial picture, but it is not a flight-attendant-only filing and it does not break member-facing representation into a CWA-AFA-style sector / MEC / LEC stack. CWA-AFA-represented flight attendants are included somewhere inside the parent totals, but not isolated there as a separate public treasury.

That means the parent CWA page is best for understanding the upstream dues base, parent-level assets and liabilities, political activity, benefits, pass-through lines, and loan activity. It is not enough by itself to answer how much of a flight attendant’s dues dollar comes back as local service.

The long-term question this project is trying to answer is how much of each dues dollar appears to return to members as direct service. For CWA, that question can only be answered by reading this parent page together with the CWA-AFA sector page and then the airline-level affiliate pages.