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Steamfitters Local 638 endorses Blakeman, his campaign's latest building-trades pickup

Blakeman's campaign announced the endorsement of Steamfitters Local 638 UA, which represents welders, HVAC technicians and sprinkler fitters in NYC and Long Island. Business manager Robert "Bobby" Bartels Jr. framed it around energy bills, public safety and skilled-trades work. The announcement was a campaign press release; it did not describe the union's endorsement process or include a Hochul response, and no membership figure beyond "thousands" was given. It follows the intra-labor split logged in June–August, in which several building-trades locals broke from the AFL-CIO line on Hochul.

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Source: FingerLakes1.com · Sep 2, 2026 · Credibility Tier 3 · Permalink https://reviewhochul.com/news/steamfitters-638-endorses-blakeman-2026-09-02

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