“The boilermakers union has endorsed me because I sat down with them and went into great detail with leadership [about] exactly what I would do.”
When asked to prove his support for fracking is genuine, Joe Biden said last week that he’d won the backing of the boilermakers, a union whose members depend on the natural gas industry and passionately support the controversial drilling technique.
“The boilermakers union has endorsed me because I sat down with them and went into great detail with leadership [about] exactly what I would do,” Biden said Thursday in Philadelphia during a nationally televised ABC News town hall.
That’s not true.
Biden hasn’t been endorsed by the International Brotherhood of Boilermakers — which represents 50,000 people across the country who work in heavy industry, manufacturing, and related sectors — or Local 154, the Pittsburgh-area chapter mentioned at the event.
The international union states clearly on its website that it hasn’t endorsed a candidate for president this cycle.
“The International Brotherhood of Boilermakers has not endorsed any U.S. Presidential candidate for the 2020 Election, and the information contained on this webpage in no way serves as an endorsement by the International Brotherhood of Boilermakers for any U.S. Presidential candidate.”
A note on the website continues:
“As a union boilermaker, your vote is a personal decision. You have the right to vote for candidates and issues as you so choose. Your vote can make a difference in electing the representatives and policymakers who support labor issues and advocate for the work boilermakers do.”
Local union lodges aren’t bound by what the larger umbrella group does, and in September, Local 154 endorsed President Donald Trump.
“The other day I’m watching the debate and I see Joe Biden tell everybody that the boilermakers endorsed him and that is not true,” said John Hughes, Local 154’s business manager. “He said he talked to somebody. I’d like to know who he talked to in the boilermakers because anybody I talk to did not endorse him.”
Read the rest at: politifact.com
