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Pension Fund of Operating Engineers Local 513
The International Union of Operating Engineers Local 513 Pension Plan was established to provide defined-benefit retirement security to members of IUOE Local...
Pension Fund of Operating Engineers Local 513
The International Union of Operating Engineers Local 513 Pension Plan was established to provide defined-benefit retirement security to members of IUOE Local 513, which represents crane operators, bulldozer operators, and other heavy-equipment professionals across the eastern half of Missouri. Unlike many multiemployer plans that require member contributions, Local 513's pension is funded entirely by employer payments — a structural feature historically common in building-trades pensions that shifts funding risk to participating contractors. Governance rests with a joint board of trustees, currently co-chaired by union-side trustee Tim Sappington, who serves as Local 513's Business Manager, and employer-side trustee James P. Murphy Jr. The fund deploys capital primarily through commingled investment trusts, a vehicle choice typical among mid-sized Taft-Hartley plans that value daily liquidity and diversified manager oversight over direct separate-account relationships. Asset-class exposure spans public equities, fixed income, and private real assets, with the fund holding direct title to the IUOE Local 513 Headquarters and Training Center at 3449 Hollenberg Drive in Bridgeton, Missouri — an owner-occupied commercial property that doubles as a union operating center and apprentice training facility. The international parent, the International Union of Operating Engineers, participates in broader industry-association networks including the National Coordinating Committee for Multiemployer Plans, suggesting the fund has access to NCCMP's pooled resources on fiduciary education and regulatory advocacy. Exact asset totals are not publicly disclosed. The plan covers approximately 4,000 active and retired participants, placing it in the mid-sized cohort of the roughly 1,400 US multiemployer pension plans. The Bridgeton headquarters serves as the sole known physical location, with administrative functions integrated into the union's benefit office rather than operated through a separate investment staff or external CIO model. The plan lists commingled investment trusts in the United States as its primary investment vehicle, consistent with multiemployer plans that delegate day-to-day portfolio management to institutional trust companies while retaining trustee-level allocation control. The fund's structural differentiator lies in its real-asset overlap with member work: heavy-equipment operators construct and maintain the built environment, and the pension that supports them directly owns a commercial training facility tied to that same industry. This alignment — a pension plan holding property that trains the workers whose retirement it secures — creates a circular economic relationship uncommon in plans that allocate to real estate purely as a portfolio diversifier. The building-trades multiemployer model itself imposes a governance rhythm absent from corporate and public plans: equal union and employer trustee representation mandates negotiated consensus for every allocation decision, slowing discretion but hardening fiduciary process.
General information
Firm type
Pension Fund
Year founded
1963
Location
Region
North America
Country
United States
City
Bridgeton
Corporate office
Bridgeton, MO, United States
Principals
Tim Sappington
Business Manager, IUOE Local 513; Co-Chair, Board of Trustees
James P. Murphy Jr.
Employer Trustee; Co-Chair, Board of Trustees
Sector focus
Frequently asked questions
Who runs investment decisions at the Pension Fund of Operating Engineers Local 513?
A joint Board of Trustees, co-chaired by union-side trustee Tim Sappington (Business Manager of IUOE Local 513) and employer-side trustee James P. Murphy Jr., governs the fund. As a multiemployer Taft-Hartley plan, investment policy requires consensus between labor and management trustees, a structure that distributes authority across named fiduciaries rather than concentrating it in a single CIO. Day-to-day portfolio management is delegated to institutional trust companies through commingled vehicles.
Is this plan fully funded, and what is its current zone status under the Pension Protection Act?
No publicly available Form 5500 or zone-status filing was located as of mid-2026. Multiemployer plans are required to disclose funding status annually, categorized as green (healthy), yellow (endangered), or red (critical). Absent a filing, allocators should request the most recent actuarial valuation and zone notice directly from the fund office.
How does the plan source investment opportunities?
The plan primarily uses commingled investment trusts rather than direct separate-account mandates. This suggests a manager-selection process familiar to mid-sized Taft-Hartley funds: trustees approve asset-class allocations and select institutional trust providers, with underlying security selection handled by those external managers. The plan also maintains direct real estate ownership of its Bridgeton headquarters and training facility — a property sourced through the union's own operational needs rather than a commercial acquisition program.
Does the fund participate in fund commitments or only direct deals?
The fund's disclosed structure points toward commingled-trust vehicles — pooled funds that aggregate capital from multiple institutional investors — rather than direct co-investment or fund commitment programs typical of larger pension systems. The direct ownership of the Bridgeton training center represents a separate real-estate allocation likely held outside the trust structure. Allocators seeking partnership should anticipate a trustee-driven procurement process rather than a dedicated alternatives team.
How is the fund related to the International Union of Operating Engineers?
Local 513 is an affiliated local union of the International Union of Operating Engineers, a Washington, D.C.-based labor organization representing roughly 400,000 members across the U.S. and Canada. The pension fund is legally distinct from the international, governed by its own joint board, though the Business Manager of Local 513 serves as a trustee, creating a personnel overlap typical in building-trades pension governance.
What is the fund's known posture on co-investments alongside external managers?
Given the plan's reliance on commingled investment trusts and its mid-sized participant base of approximately 4,000 members, co-investment programs — which require rapid decision-making and dedicated internal underwriting staff — are unlikely to feature in the current allocation structure. Trustee boards for plans of this scale typically delegate co-investment decisions to trust-company managers rather than operating direct co-investment sleeves.
Where does the underlying contribution stream come from, and what industries drive it?
Contributions are 100% employer-paid, sourced from signatory construction and heavy-equipment contractors across eastern Missouri that employ IUOE Local 513 members. The underlying economic activity is tied to regional infrastructure spending, commercial construction, and industrial maintenance — sectors sensitive to public-works appropriations and private capital-expenditure cycles.
Profile maintained by Altss using OSINT (open-source intelligence), regulatory filings, licensed data partners, and verified direct submissions. Read the methodology. Last updated: . Continuous refresh with full update cycles at least every 30 days.
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