International Brotherhood of Boilermakers fact checks Biden's claim of endorsement: False

Oops, he did it again. Joe Biden claimed that The International Brotherhood of Boilermakers union endorsed him for president during a televised town hall on ABC last week. The Boilermakers disagree with his claim. They didn’t endorse his bid for president at all. As a matter of fact, the union doesn’t make presidential endorsements and that is clearly stated on their website.

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Headquartered in Kansas City, Kansas, the union services more than 200 local lodges across North America. The website sites political activity but not endorsements of presidential candidates. Information is provided for its members but there is no endorsement of either candidate. From the website:

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.

Information on this site is intended to help you understand issues important to our union and the labor movement. 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.

Joe Biden either lied to the voter when that person asked a question about hydraulic fracking and his energy policy or he is confused about union endorsements. Frankly, either excuse could be true. Biden has a very long history of difficulties with the truth and, by all appearances, he is suffering from mental decline. Hydraulic fracking is a technique designed to recover oil and gas. Boilermakers work closely with the energy industry. Natural gas burns clean so when Biden goes off on fossil fuels and their elimination, Boilermakers notice. During the town hall, Biden said the union is “overwhelmingly” supporting him.

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“I’m telling [you] the boilermakers overwhelmingly endorse me, OK?” he said. “So the boilermakers’ union has endorsed me because I sat down with them and went into great detail earlier to show their leadership exactly what I would do.”

Not so fast, says John Hughes. Hughes appeared on Fox and Friends this morning. Not only has the union not endorsed Biden, the Boilermaker union’s Local 154 in Pittsburgh endorsed President Trump for reelection last month. At that time, Local 154 wrote a letter to President Trump announcing its support and pointing to Trump’s strong support of the coal industry.

“Your administration has convinced my members that you will protect the future of our industry,” business manager John J. Hughes wrote in a letter (pdf) on Sept. 3.

“Boilermaker jobs specifically rely on coal-fired power generation and we strongly encourage the advancement of carbon capture technologies which can secure jobs for our members,” he added.

Most people don’t think about the energy industry and fossil fuels very much. People go to the gas pump and fill up their cars and that’s that. Fossil fuels companies have a part to play in green energy and have been doing so, certainly in the development stages, for many years now. Fossil fuels are needed to make solar panels and windmills, for example. Electric cars are powered by coal plants. These are inconvenient truths for extremists in the far left who want to destroy the fossil fuel industry. Biden had to move to support their crazy rhetoric to make it through the Democrat primary. Hughes points out that Biden’s support of the Green New Deal isn’t for them. “The Green Plan has nothing in it for Boilermakers.” So, there is no endorsement. “We just don’t feel Joe Biden is good for us.” Who can blame them? Biden has been all over the place about fracking. He was for it before he was against it before he was for it again.

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Andrew Bates, Biden campaign spokesperson responded to an inquiry from Fox and Friends Sunday: “The Boilermakers endorse Joe Biden twice and have never supported Donald Trump. Over 60 national unions back Joe Biden, including unions that had never endorsed a presidential candidate before.” Democrats tend to score endorsements from unions, that isn’t breaking news. Unions donate big money to the Democrat Party. Biden probably thinks he has the Boilermakers endorsement. But, the Biden campaign spokesperson was wrong to say Boilermakers endorsed Biden twice and don’t support Trump.

In Pennsylvania, fracking is an important job creator. The state reportedly represents the largest natural gas reserves in the world. The Pennsylvania Department of Health reports that there are 10,000 natural gas wells in the state that use the technology of fracking. Biden is desperately trying to win Pennsylvania, a swing state that went to Trump in 2016 so now he pretends to be in favor of protecting fracking jobs.

Meanwhile, in other union news, the United Steelworkers union is trolling President Trump. The union is using a “bat light” to project a giant Biden-Harris campaign logo onto the side of Trump International Hotel and Tower in downtown Chicago. The bat light is projected just above Trump’s name on the building. It isn’t the first time the bat light has been used, it even has its own Twitter account to publicize the shenanigans.

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The United Steelworkers endorsed Biden’s candidacy back in May and have been using their “bat light” to project the Biden/Harris logo on the side of a number of Chicago landmarks in recent weeks, including Wrigley Field and the Chicago Theatre. The union’s use of “bat light” is a play off of the ‘bat signal’ from the Batman comics and films.

There are two weeks left until the November 3 election. Look for lots of silly last-minute shenanigans, especially since Trump seems to be closing the gap in polls in swing states.

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