James Sweeney ’78

As the elected President-Business Manager of Local 150 of the International Union of Operating Engineers, AFL-CIO, James M. Sweeney is the chief executive of the union. In addition to negotiating, administering hundreds of agreements, and managing the union’s day-to-day operations, James serves as chairman of the fringe benefit funds. James is also General Secretary-Treasurer of the International Union of Operating Engineers, which is the second-highest office in the International Union.

James started out at Queen of the Universe parish, on the west side of Marquette Park, the eldest of four kids born to the late Martin and Kathleen Sweeney, who emigrated to Chicago in the fifties from Mayo and Galway respectively. Kathleen Sweeney was the queen of the South Side Irish Parade in 1957. James attended Marist High School. Following his graduation in 1978, he attended college and played football at North Central College for a short period.

As a child, James spent his summers working on the family farm in Ireland and has gone back each year to visit family and friends, as well as to watch Mayo play football. James joined the union in 1978 and worked for contractors on sewer, slag, paving, and Deep Tunnel projects. For a short time, he served as a Chicago Firefighter. He is a second-generation member of Local 150, following in the footsteps of his father, Martin Sweeney, and uncle, John Carroll.

In 1987, James was hired by then President-Business Manager William “Bill” Dugan to serve as Local 150’s first full-time organizer. Over the next 20 years, the union’s membership doubled from less than 10,000 to more than 24,000. He pioneered the use of Scabby, the inflatable rat, and led some of Local 150’s most successful industry-wide organizing campaigns, including Operation Wrench.

James has been President-Business Manager since 2008 and steered Local 150 through the Great Recession while maintaining wage and benefit levels and implementing temporary healthcare subsidies and the Local 150 Food Bank to aid members in need. He led members through industry-wide strikes in Illinois in 2010 and Indiana in 2011 to preserve healthcare benefits.

In 2011, James was named to the Board of Directors of the Illinois State Toll Highway Authority, where he spent 4 years advocating for modernization. He was re-appointed in 2019 and serves today.

In 2020, James was appointed as General Secretary-Treasurer of the International Union of Operating Engineers, the International’s second-highest office. In 2023, convention delegates elected him to that position without opposition. He was well-prepared after a decade of service as a General Vice President. In his role, James has negotiated nationwide agreements and overseen large-scale organizing efforts.

James also serves on the Board of Directors of Amalgamated Bank of Chicago, the Executive Board for the Chicago Federation of Labor, and is chairman of various Midwest Operating Engineers benefit funds, including Health and Welfare, Pension, Apprenticeship, and Construction Research. He also serves on boards of charities such as the SEAL Family Foundation, Special Children’s Charities, and the Irish American Labor Alliance.

Most recently, under James’ leadership, IUOE Local 150 championed two Illinois Constitutional Amendments: the Safe Roads Amendment (2016) and the Worker’s Rights Amendment (2022), the latter making Illinois the only state in the nation to constitutionally protect the right to unionize.

James has strived to build a strong Local 150 community. With a coalition of neighborhood groups, he helped start the Chicago Working Families’ Archer Avenue St. Patrick’s Day Parade, now the city’s longest continually running parade. Proceeds benefit causes such as the Chicago Police Memorial Foundation’s “Get Behind the Vest” Program and the EMWQ Retirees’ Widows & Children’s Assistance Fund. In 2024 alone, CPMF received $110,000 in honor of fallen CPD Officers Andres Vazquez Lasso and Luis Huesca.

James is a proud father of three sons, including a lawyer with the Illinois, Indiana, Iowa Foundation for Fair Contracting, a Chicago Police Department Officer, and an Operating Engineer with Local 150. Inspired by his family’s service and his connection to the Navy SEAL community, he created the James M. Sweeney Golf Classic benefiting the SEAL Family Foundation, which has raised over $7.5 million to date. In 2023, after the event topped $1 million, James honored his promise to parachute out of a plane with Navy SEALs.

James and his wife, Marilyn, live in the Western Suburbs of Chicago. A lifelong South Side Irish White Sox fan, James has also run the Chicago Marathon and coached his sons in sports. In 2025, he was inducted into the Irish American Hall of Fame and has been honored by numerous organizations, including the Irish American Labor Council, Peggy Browning Fund, Illinois State Crime Commission, and the Marist Contractors Association.