Even Federal Regulators Want to Know Where Union Dues Go

For years, we've heard frustrated employees express they have no real idea where their union dues go. It's a great question—one the federal government recently took steps to answer.

On June 1, 2026, the U.S. Department of Labor's Office of Labor-Management Standards finalized the most significant overhaul of union financial reporting rules since 2003. The goal: increased transparency and accountability.

Under the new guidance, unions will be required to:

• Report spending on contract negotiations, organizing, political activity, and lobbying separately, instead of lumping them together in one broad category.

• Disclose transaction-level detail on categories that were previously reported only as lump sums—including dues and per capita tax, asset transfers, and certain foreign financial transactions.

• File a new "Long Form" with 32 separate schedules, for the roughly 100 largest unions (those with $40 million or more in annual receipts), expanding itemization well beyond the prior 24-schedule format.

The increased transparency is long overdue. Between October 2020 and September 2025, 255 individuals were convicted of embezzlement or other related offenses connected to union funds. This includes the UAW–Fiat Chrysler scandal, in which union officials received more than $1.5 million in prohibited payments from the automaker.

Not everyone welcomes the change, however.

On June 10, the AFL-CIO sued the Department of Labor, arguing the rule was finalized without adequate public comment and gives unions too little time to comply—even though the first filings under the new framework aren't due for until after June 30, 2027. A federal judge in Washington, D.C., denied the union's request to block the rule from taking effect. While the underlying legal challenge continues, the rule stands as of now.

The Center for Independent Employees (CIE) applauds this step toward transparency. Union members and the public deserve to know where dues money actually goes.

But there is a bigger issue at stake.

While the disclosure rule tells union members where their money has gone, whether it's money well spent is a separate question.

CIE has spent the past two decades addressing this bigger issue, helping more than 50,000 employees become independent from unions in their workplaces. And because we have seen what that independence means to employees, our goal is to double our past results by 2030.

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The Center for Independent Employees (CIE) is a 501(c)(3) legal defense foundation that provides legal representation and assistance to independent employees who are opposed to union oppression in their workplaces.