Operating Engineers Local 324 Pension (OE324)

Operating Engineers Local 324 Pension (OE324)

Operating Engineers Local 324 Pension was established through multi-employer collective bargaining, serving the retirement needs of heavy-equipment operators across Michigan. Trustees including Business Manager Douglas W. Stockwell and union leader Lee Graham oversee the plan, with CFO Scott Hart managing day-to-day financial operations. The fund is structured as a Taft-Hartley defined-benefit plan, jointly trusteed by union and contributing employer representatives from the Associated General Contractors of Michigan. The pension deploys capital across venture capital, real estate, and absolute-return strategies — a mix designed to capture growth while funding long-duration liabilities. On the real-asset side, the fund operates the OEPT Realty Portfolio, a mixed-use vehicle holding properties in Michigan. For liquid alternatives, it participates in the ABS Long/Short Strategies Fund, a Stamford, Connecticut-based hedge-fund vehicle. The venture allocation targets generalist technology and industrial-adjacent startups, often through fund commitments rather than direct equity — a typical posture for mid-sized union pensions seeking diversification without in-house origination teams. The plan operates from Bloomfield Township, north of Detroit, with additional branch offices supporting union members across the state. While total assets are not publicly disclosed, multi-employer plans of this structure typically manage between $500 million and $2 billion, depending on contribution rates and participant headcount (Altss estimate). Adjacent to the pension, the union maintains training facilities and real-estate holdings that support its broader mission. The structural differentiator is the joint-trustee model itself: labor and management representatives share fiduciary authority, which tends to produce conservative liquidity requirements and a preference for commingled fund structures over concentrated single-manager relationships. For institutional allocators evaluating this plan as a potential co-investor or limited partner, that governance dynamic shapes everything from manager selection to pacing.