About Us

From 2007 until 2009, the labor industry took a significant hit with the crash of the housing market. The Great Recession put many of Local 150’s members out of work and in need of assistance.

In January 2009, President James Sweeney announced that he wanted to help Local 150 members get through this difficult time by starting a food drive for its members. What started out as a small effort to help out-of-work members turned into a collaborate effort that brought members together. There is no other Local in America that provides assistance to its members like Local 150. Our grassroots efforts helped raise over $325,000 that went towards buying food for members. The Local 150 Food Bank also received a designated cents-per hour contractor contribution through the Midwest Operating Engineers Construction Industry Research and Service Trust Fund. Over 95% of contributions made to the Local 150 Food Bank went straight to families in need. During the time that the Food Bank operated, we successfully distributed over 6,200 food boxes to members.

IUOE, Local 150 Scholarship Fund, Inc. 

After Local 150 members were back at work, the Food Bank transformed into a scholarship for members’ children. Since starting the scholarship in 2013, the IUOE, Local 150 Scholarship Fund, Inc. has granted over $1.7 million in scholarships to its members’ dependents to attend college. Each year, the scholarship committee selects twenty-nine scholarships: 16-$3,300 4-year degree scholarships renewable for 3 years; 8-$2,750 2-year degree scholarships renewable for 1 year; 4-$5,500 2-year mechanic tech degree scholarships renewable for 1 year, and 1-$500 Work Boot non-renewable needs based scholarship.