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* Most of the Tribune’s profile of Local 150’s leadership is known to people like yourselves. But not all of it, so definitely take some time and read the whole thing. John Lippert has provided us a sweeping and comprehensive look at one of the most powerful organizations in the state. From the end…

[Jim Sweeney, president of Local 150 of the International Union of Operating Engineers] is all-in on data centers. He said they’re an AI-driven trend so vast that Illinois will need 40% more electricity just to run data centers on the drawing board now.

After Local 150 built its Wilmington training center, it also obtained land next door that had been part of a decommissioned U.S. Army arsenal site. Sweeney said the local will use this land to build what could be a $1 billion data center.

The shift to Wilmington further removed Local 150 from Chicago. It weakened one of the city’s potential pathways to high-tech prosperity and environmental justice.

However, Wilmington could turn out to be the economic fortress that saves Local 150.

“We own 800 acres in Wilmington that we’re going to develop into a data center, and then we’re going to keep it as part owners,” Sweeney said.

“That money will go into a strike fund so nobody can ever starve our members out.”

posted by Rich Miller
Thursday, Oct 24, 24 @ 10:55 am

Comments

Maybe Local 150 can get Sam McCann to run the data center.

Comment by City Zen Thursday, Oct 24, 24 @ 11:25 am
It’s an innovative strategy, creating a stable income source for the strike fund. They have some long-standing stereotypes to overcome, regarding union funds management. If they keep it clean, it could work.

Comment by Give Us Barabbas Thursday, Oct 24, 24 @ 11:35 am
that was not me at 10:58

Comment by Suburban Mom Thursday, Oct 24, 24 @ 11:40 am
Locals like IUOE 150 are very sophisticated investors (due to their management of multi-billion dollar pension funds) and their pool of well-paid workers which form part of the backbone of the middle class. Imagine if the truckers and warehouse workers in the vicinity were similarly organized.

Comment by Ares Thursday, Oct 24, 24 @ 12:14 pm
Barabbas –We have a pension fund that is funded @ 91% with #5.6 Billion in assets. We’re not the Teamsters, and have been forward thinking on a lot of organizing issues as well as how the Union is administered.

Also, if you draw lines for the geographical area of Local 150, from South Bend IN to muscatine Iowa wisconsin border to lasalle county, Wilmington lands pretty close to the center of that.

Comment by Todd Thursday, Oct 24, 24 @ 12:42 pm
It’s ancient history but I when I think 150 it’s Duggan, guns and buffalo in my brain.

Comment by Amalia Thursday, Oct 24, 24 @ 3:54 pm
(me for real) — in case anyone wants my deep thoughts on data centers, they’re NEVER going to be located in cities like Chicago except in special cases like where CBOT trading demands very low latency. Data centers go where land and electricity is cheap. They’re good money producers, but they don’t create all that many jobs. Local 150 partially owning a data center in Wilmington seems to make good sense to me. IDK that it’s great for the state, but Wilmington is a very sensible place for a data center, and good for Local 150 for securing their financial future.

I think Chicago politicians have gotten a little too enamoured of data centers as economic salvation. A perfect data center needs exactly one person to sit at a desk and monitor it. They’re not job nodes. They pay good taxes, but they don’t create very many jobs, and they tend to live 90 minutes outside major cities where land and electricity is cheap, but latency is low on serving web pages to big cities. Wilmington seems kind-of ideal.

Comment by Suburban Mom Thursday, Oct 24, 24 @ 11:49 pm