Funding, Dues and Financial Analysis

Financial position and reporting scope

The parent union’s original IRS returns report expenses exceeding revenue in each of the fiscal years ending May 31, 2023, 2024 and 2025—a combined $107,427,758. Its substantial investment holdings coexist with benefit obligations, internal fund rules and operating budgets that use reserve funding. These measures describe different parts of the financial position and require separate analysis.

Sources: FY2023 original IRS XML; FY2024 original IRS XML; FY2025 original IRS XML, Parts I, X and XI; 2026 Finance Committee report, PDF page 7.

CWA is the parent filer under OLMS file 000-188 and EIN 53-0246709. Its fiscal year runs June 1–May 31. CWA-AFA reports separately under OLMS file 000-376. Internal districts, sectors, councils and federal reporting entities are not interchangeable. Parent, sector and local financial totals cannot be combined without eliminating inter-entity transactions.

The current page preserves all 150 previously published annual LM-2 detail rows, while qualifying their source status. It adds the independently inspected IRS returns, budget and fund evidence, compensation periods, 162 grant disclosures and unresolved reconciliation questions. The LM-2 source and control page provides the full verified FY2024 Statements A–B and source-completeness notes.

Sources: FY2024 parent LM-2, Items 1–3; indexed FY2026 sector report 945683, file 000-376; FY2023 original IRS XML; FY2024 original IRS XML; FY2025 original IRS XML.

On this page

• Filing status and original sources
• IRS financial history
• Costs and compensation
• Assets, liquidity and obligations
• Dues and remittance rules
• Restricted funds and the internal loan
• Budgets and reported unit costs
• Grant disclosure reconciliation
• LM-2 reporting guide
• Cash flows, member amounts and loans
• FY2025 historical LM-2 detail
• FY2024 LM-2 detail
• FY2023 historical LM-2 detail
• Separate PAC activity
• CWA-AFA merger and service evidence
• Significance and outstanding records

Filing status and original sources

Government download failures establish retrieval limits, not nonfiling. The official indexed FY2026 parent report supersedes this page’s former “not yet due” statement. Report 945683 is the CWA-AFA sector, not the parent. A located record or partial capture is not a verified complete filing; a particular original does not establish the complete amendment history.

These three original XML returns were previously acquired from IRS archives and re-read with matching hashes for this review. Each selects accrual accounting and is a nongroup return. The tax-year label is one year earlier than the fiscal-year end. Missing fields remain missing rather than becoming reported zeros. No FY2026 IRS original was acquired.

Sources: FY2023 original IRS XML; FY2024 original IRS XML; FY2025 original IRS XML, return headers and Part XII; 2024 Form 990 instructions.

IRS financial history: three accrual-basis returns

FY2025 expenses increased $17,887,099 (10.34%) from FY2024, while revenue increased 2.52%. Revenue less expenses was negative $43,117,977 in FY2025. These are accrual results, not the LM-2’s annual change in cash or a forecast of future insolvency.

Net assets declined $29,460,247 from May 31, 2023 to May 31, 2025. Over the full three-year rollforward, from the opening May 31, 2022 balance of $517,989,365, the decline was $71,683,453. The cumulative expense excess and net-asset decline differ because Part XI also records unrealized investment and other changes. Each annual rollforward reconciles.

The FY2025 return’s $534,860,462 gross receipts include $385,181,228 gross securities-sale proceeds. Gross receipts therefore must not be substituted for its $147,710,670 total revenue. Proceeds from selling investments are not all earned revenue.

Sources: FY2023 original IRS XML; FY2024 original IRS XML; FY2025 original IRS XML, Parts I, VIII, X and XI. Download the financial series and source fields (CSV).

Costs, affiliate payments and compensation periods

Payments to affiliates increased $8,353,660 from FY2024 to FY2025. The return does not establish that all of that increase went to CWA-AFA. The “AFA MEC ADMIN” label identifies a reported expense classification; it does not, by itself, establish a cash transfer, the sector’s full cost, or a net benefit from affiliation.

Sources: FY2023 original IRS XML; FY2024 original IRS XML; FY2025 original IRS XML, Parts I and IX; exact descriptions preserved in the original returns.

Part VII compensation and independent-contractor reporting use the calendar year ending within the fiscal year: 2022, 2023 and 2024 for these three returns. The figures above are not base salary alone. Schedule J breaks Cummings’s CY2024 reportable amount into $246,042 base and $573 other reportable pay, with $6,900 deferred and $36,597 nontaxable compensation. Salaam’s corresponding amounts are $220,314 base, $5,406 other reportable and $13,755 nontaxable. These are overlapping disclosures and must not be added again to Part IX expenses.

The returns report 668, 627 and 601 employees for their respective calendar-year periods. These counts do not identify the number assigned to CWA-AFA or establish service capacity at any particular airline.

Sources: FY2023 original IRS XML; FY2024 original IRS XML; FY2025 original IRS XML, Part VII and Schedule J; all 82 Part VII compensation disclosure rows with dates and XML locators (CSV).

Assets, liquidity and benefit obligations

At May 31, 2025, cash plus savings and temporary investments total $21,452,537, while the two securities categories total $491,725,148. Net assets of $446,305,912 are neither a cash balance nor an identified unrestricted spending pool. The $113,818,711 accrued postretirement benefit obligation represents approximately 80.2% of liabilities; it should not be described as entirely payable immediately.

The returns report net assets without donor restrictions equal to total net assets. The donor-restricted amount field is absent, not an explicit zero. Accounting classification does not cancel internal constitutional restrictions, fund designations or investment commitments.

The FY2024 LM-2 reports $478,624,175 of investments, with its Schedule 5 book amounts equal to reported cost. Form 990 uses different valuation and classification measures. The FY2024 LM-2’s $401,714,431 net assets and Form 990’s $473,670,026 require an investment-level, timing and classification reconciliation; the difference alone does not establish a reporting error.

Sources: FY2023 original IRS XML; FY2024 original IRS XML; FY2025 original IRS XML, Part X and Schedules D/O; FY2024 partial LM-2, PDF page 11 / Schedule 5.

Dues authority, collection and settlement

The Constitution assigns local membership-dues decisions and the Convention’s per-capita rules distinct roles. Districts are administrative units and cannot levy dues. Affiliation instruments can preserve different sector arrangements. The Constitution and operating rules must therefore be read with the applicable merger terms rather than assuming a uniform allocation for every member.

Sources: CWA Constitution, Article VI.1–4 on dues, Article XI.7 on districts, Article XIII on locals, and Article IX.6 on nonuniform affiliations.

Constitutional terminology does not change a filing’s classifications. In the verified FY2024 LM-2, Item 36, Dues and Agency Fees, is $124,224,565, while Item 37, Per Capita Tax receipts, is $0. A distinct disbursement line, Item 56, reports $5,322,848 of per-capita tax. A source described in dues guidance as per-capita remittance should not silently be relabeled as Item 37 revenue.

Sources: FY2024 partial LM-2, Statement B, PDF page 4.

The August 2025 collection policy introduced separate invoicing when dues were not collected. Following the 2026 local petition and Special Convention, CWA’s July 16 guidance reports rescission and says that, from July 6, 2026, per-capita owed for active members and agency-fee-payers again would be deducted from the local’s overall dues payment. March–June invoices remain due, and the notice sets an 18-month correction process for member status. This change concerns collection and remittance mechanics; it does not itself establish a new dues rate.

The July notice’s opening convention date conflicts with its later July reference and the official July 1 Special Convention call. The review preserves that conflict and does not invent an exact vote tally or resolve the date by assumption.

Sources: March 13, 2026 S-T guidance, historical invoicing policy; July 16, 2026 S-T guidance, rescission and implementation; governing-document and change ledger.

Fund rules, strike support and the internal MRF loan

Convention Resolution 80A-25-01, adopted by voice vote on August 11, 2025 and effective August 17, changes Members’ Relief Fund (MRF), Strategic Industry Fund and Growth Fund funding rules. It provides a $14 million investment-income funding stream subject to reserve floors. AFL-CIO and Canadian Labour Congress affiliation charges are paid first, with the remainder split equally between the Strategic Industry Fund and Growth Fund.

The $14 million is not a guaranteed net distribution to the two operating funds, an assumed investment return, or an immediate $75 million transfer. Actual fund balances and distributions require the fund rollforwards.

Sources: adopted Resolution 80A-25-01, CWA Unbreakable; 2025 proceedings, PDF page 267, adoption.

The 2025 Finance Committee report describes a $40.4 million internal loan refinanced through the MRF in June 2015, with debt originating in 2006, a reported balance of $39,683,674.05, and maturity on December 31, 2026. Although the agreement was interest-only, principal payments had begun. The 2026 report states that cumulative principal payments since May 2024 total $1,014,736.42. No later payoff or refinancing outcome was verified.

The budget’s $1.2 million “Internal Loan Repayment” line is defined in the report as interest; it must not be used as a principal-reduction figure. An internal fund loan must also not be added to consolidated external liabilities without eliminating the internal relationship.

Sources: 2025 Finance Committee report, PDF page 3; 2026 report, PDF page 4; budget page 7 and definition page 12.

Operating budgets, reserves and unit-cost reporting

The two budgets reach a reported zero balance by including reserve funding. That is different from recurring income covering spending. The FY2026–2027 document is labeled proposed; the review did not acquire a definitive adoption outcome. The source footnotes nonoperating reimbursement to the GSA building lease, which does not verify that projected cash has been received.

CWA states that CWA-AFA income and expenses are excluded from the International budget but included in consolidated financial statements. The budget therefore cannot be compared directly with parent Form 990 or LM-2 totals as though the entity scope and accounting measures were identical. Earlier 2025 proposals remain distinct versions: FY2025–2026 expenses differ by $1, and the FY2026–2027 proposal differs by $10,271, from the later report.

Sources: 2026 Finance Committee report, PDF page 7 and footnotes; 2025 report, PDF page 10.

The individual expense components total $105,638,820, $10,000 below the printed total. The exhibit also describes a 30% benefit-cost assumption while the table displays 27%, and uses a 2019 allocation framework. Those source inconsistencies remain unresolved. “Dues payers” in this exhibit have no supplied measurement-date definition and must not be equated with LM-2 active membership at year-end.

The 2026 report discloses a July 7, 2025 I-CAP notice covering fiscal 2024–2025 and cooperation with counsel. That disclosure does not establish an adverse finding. Actual audit opinions, notes, fund schedules and any concluded compliance correspondence are separate evidence to obtain.

Sources: 2026 Finance Committee report, PDF page 9, FY2025 exhibit; PDF page 4, I-CAP notice; 2025 report, PDF page 12, repeated exhibit.

Grant disclosures and unresolved reconciliation

The original XML contains 162 recipient-year disclosure rows, not necessarily 162 distinct recipients and not a complete grant ledger. The named amounts do not reconcile to domestic-organization grant expense. The FY2024 return additionally reports 18 charitable/government recipients plus 42 other organizations (60 total), while containing 59 recipient rows. The cause of each difference remains unresolved.

The greater-than-$5,000 disclosure threshold is context, not evidence that small grants explain these residuals. An accrual filer may report accrued grants in the cash-grant column. Domestic-individual scholarships of $15,500, $8,274 and $8,165 reconcile separately to Part IX, line 2 and do not bridge the organization-grant gaps. These findings identify specific reconciliation questions; they do not establish diversion or wrongdoing.

Sources: FY2023 original IRS XML; FY2024 original IRS XML; FY2025 original IRS XML, Part IX, lines 1–2 and Schedule I; 2024 Schedule I instructions, PDF page 2.

The FY2025 return separately names AFA Disaster Relief Fund, EIN 52-2341209 ($136,000), and AFA Solidarity Fund, EIN 99-0516403 ($20,000). Those recipients are distinct from the sector operating entity and from airline councils; they must not be counted as operating support to CWA-AFA without identifying the entity and purpose.

Download every disclosure with its period, reported cash/noncash amount, purpose and exact XML locator (CSV). A blank EIN below means the field is absent, not zero. All 162 noncash fields are explicit, including 161 zeros and one $19,407 amount.

Reading the LM-2 on its reporting terms

Sources: FY2024 official LM-2 record; saved partial filing.

The FY2024 membership schedule reports 363,931 active members, 60,668 dues-paying retirees and 238,747 non-dues-paying retirees, totaling 663,346 members. It separately reports 18,515 agency-fee-payers, for 681,861 members and fee-payers combined. Those categories must remain separate.

Sources: FY2024 partial LM-2, Schedule 13, PDF page 79.

Member-related cash movements, loans and reconciliation

FY2024 Statement B reports $115,464,100 received “From Members for Disbursement on Their Behalf” (Item 47), and $112,190,260 disbursed “On Behalf of Individual Members” (Item 64). Both are distinct from the affiliate-transmittal lines, Items 46 and 63, which report zero. The source does not identify these member amounts as a transfer to CWA-AFA.

The FY2024 cash rollforward is $14,571,069 opening cash + $304,837,647 receipts − $301,333,377 disbursements = $18,075,339 closing cash. Disbursement categories subtotal $302,129,617; the filing then deducts the $796,240 net amount withheld but not disbursed ($23,061,026 withheld less $22,264,786 disbursed). Omitting that adjustment would make a correct statement appear not to add.

Schedule 2 reports $2,541,959 of loans made, $2,982,119 repaid and $3,139,861 outstanding at the FY2024 end. Loan principal is neither a grant nor ordinary income. A loan-purpose description such as member relief identifies a stated use, not its ultimate recipient-level outcome.

Some previously transcribed FY2023 closing amounts differ from the opening amounts in the inspected FY2024 filing. For example, the earlier site lists FY2023 cash of $14,595,092, while the FY2024 opening balance is $14,571,069. The review retains both with their respective source status rather than silently rewriting the earlier record. Original/amended filings and explanatory notes are needed to resolve the differences.

Sources: FY2024 partial LM-2, Statements A–B, PDF pages 3–4; FY2023 official record, body not recovered; complete verified statement transcription and source controls.

FY2025 Analysis

Source status: Historical site transcription. The complete report body and candidate identity/period were not independently refreshed in this review. These amounts are retained for continuity and are not newly certified.

Sources: FY2025 official report 922216.

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

Source status: Header, Statements A–B and present schedule amounts were checked against the incomplete 128-page saved PDF. Functional totals appear in Statement B even where the later detailed schedules are absent. Item 69 was not captured.

Sources: FY2024 official report 896720; inspected partial copy.

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 shown in the saved source copy
• 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

Source status: Historical site transcription. The official record was indexed, but its complete body was not recovered. Annual flows, schedule narratives and closing balances below remain unrefreshed.

Sources: FY2023 official report 871864.

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

CWA COPE: a separate committee and reporting period

The FEC identifies the Communications Workers of America–COPE Political Contributions Committee as C00002089, a qualified labor-organization PAC registered March 20, 1975. Its election-cycle amounts are separate from the union’s June–May reporting series.

The updated summary’s cash rollforward reconciles. Transaction breakdowns on the same FEC page cover an earlier period ending August 31, 2026. A profile summary is not a review of every underlying filing and amendment. The March snapshot is retained as dated history. Do not add PAC totals to LM-2 political/lobbying expense or union-wide financial totals.

Sources: FEC committee profile, exact base URL; captured October 23, 2026.

CWA-AFA merger benefits and the service-financing question

What benefits did the 2004-era CWA merger bring to AFA, and what financial trail identifies legal, financial or advisory services that CWA actually provided to CWA-AFA? This question guides the continuing CWA-AFA analysis. It requires both the merger instrument and evidence of later performance.

The parent evidence identifies relevant starting points: separate budget and consolidated-statement boundaries; affiliate payments; the “AFA MEC ADMIN” classification; restricted-fund rules; and grants to separately identified charities. None is automatically the value of services delivered to the sector. A valid trail must identify the payer, payee, fiscal period, service or project, reimbursement terms, and any matching entry in the recipient’s records.

A parent payment may be a return of collected dues, reimbursement, a restricted grant or additional support. Sector-paid outside counsel is not established as a CWA-provided service merely because the sector belongs to CWA. Missing invoices do not establish that no support occurred; organizational capacity does not establish that a particular service was delivered.

Sources: 2026 Finance Committee report, budget-scope footnote; FY2023 original IRS XML; FY2024 original IRS XML; FY2025 original IRS XML, Part IX and Schedule I; current CWA-AFA Constitution and Bylaws, Appendix A merger agreement.

Significance and outstanding records

The verified record supports a substantive financial analysis: three years of accrual expense excesses, a declining net-asset position, significant investment holdings and benefit liabilities, reserve-funded budgets, distinct member-related cash movements, and grant disclosures that need reconciliation. It does not supply a single percentage of dues returned as service or a reliable measure of representation quality.

• Obtain complete FY2023–FY2026 parent LM-2 bodies, attachments and amendment histories, including the missing FY2024 schedules and Item 69.
• Obtain audited financial statements and notes, current fund rollforwards and investment valuation records; reconcile them to Form 990 and LM-2.
• Obtain the adopted FY2026–2027 budget and actual results, and establish the outcome of the internal loan’s December 2026 maturity.
• Reconcile Schedule I disclosures and recipient counts to the full organization-grant ledger, and explain the unit-exhibit $10,000 expense difference and allocation assumptions.
• Trace CWA-AFA inter-entity support and service costs using reciprocal records before measuring a merger benefit or combining parent/sector totals.

This analysis preserves reported figures and their limits so that later records can resolve specific questions. A successful source link is not proof of completeness, and an unavailable download is not evidence of an absent transaction.