Operating Engineers Local 98

Operating Engineers Local 98

Operating Engineers Local 98 administers pension, health and welfare, and training funds from its headquarters in Southwick, Massachusetts — the institutional backbone for union members who operate cranes, bulldozers, and stationary power plants across western New England. The fund structure is classic Taft-Hartley: jointly trusteed by labor and management representatives, with contributions collectively bargained through local chapter agreements. The International Union of Operating Engineers (IUOE) acts as the parent body, and Local 98 maintains standard affiliations with the AFL-CIO and the Massachusetts Coalition of Taft-Hartley Trust Funds. A portion of plan assets also supports two labor-sponsored scholarships: the Colleen Sullivan Memorial Nursing Vocation Scholarship and the Lou Sarno Memorial Scholarship. The pension's investment strategy is heavily concentrated in buyout funds, with known side-allocations to private credit and infrastructure. While the fund does not publicly disclose performance or detailed direct holdings, public records indicate a preference for US middle-market private equity — consistent with the multi-employer plan pattern of favoring capital appreciation through long-locked domestic equity partnerships. Geographic focus tracks the union's membership footprint: Massachusetts, Vermont, New Hampshire, and the broader northeastern United States. No direct co-investment programs or SPVs are publicly confirmed; the deployment model appears to be almost entirely through external general partner commitments. Local 98 maintains four commercial offices beyond its Southwick headquarters: a main training center at the same Hudson Drive campus, and additional facilities in Pittsfield, Massachusetts; South Burlington, Vermont; and Hooksett, New Hampshire. The training fund owns dedicated heavy-equipment instruction assets, including simulators and field training sites, which represent a sizable non-investment capital base. In May 2024, the AFL-CIO reaffirmed Local 98 as the 12th largest member union federation in its national network, underscoring the local's enduring bargaining density in infrastructure-heavy New England markets. The fund is also an active member of the Prescription Access Litigation (PAL) coalition, reflecting aggressive healthcare cost containment on behalf of its welfare fund participants. What distinguishes Local 98 from a typical state or single-employer pension is its trustee structure. Taft-Hartley plans operate under joint labor-management governance, meaning investment committee decisions are negotiated between union officials and contributing contractors. This creates a structurally conservative, consensus-driven asset allocation process that historically resists sudden shifts in portfolio risk postures. The union's real asset ownership — offices, training yards, and equipment — provides an additional hard-asset floor independent of the securities portfolio, a trait shared by few regional labor funds.