Mayor Brant WalkerALTON - Alton Mayor Brant Walker released information today that rank-and-file members of Teamsters Local 525 have reached out to his re-election campaign to express their dissatisfaction with their leadership’s recent decision to endorse David Goins for Mayor of Alton.

The Alton streets and parks department have about 30 members of Local 525, Walker said.

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“It came as a surprise when I saw that Teamsters Local 525 had made an endorsement in the race for Mayor because they had never contacted me about any kind of endorsement process,” Mayor Walker said. “I would have gladly met with the Local’s members to discuss my record as Mayor and my vision for the future of Alton prior to their decision.”

“As the son of a union President, I have always been a strong supporter of collective bargaining rights, and my administration has always supported and operated under the City of Alton’s Project Labor Agreement with our unions,” continued Walker. “To my knowledge, any project the City of Alton has been unable to do in-house with our employees has been completed using union contractors.”

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IBT 525 members provided this statement:

“We were surprised to see a recent headline which our union was making an endorsement in the Alton Mayor race because we were not consulted about who we should support. To our knowledge, the question of who to support for Mayor has never been brought before the membership of our union before being announced.

“We are disappointed that our leadership didn’t talk to all our members, particularly those who live in Alton, before making a decision about whom to support for Mayor. We don’t agree with this decision or how it was made or announced.

“As proud members of Teamsters, we believe that we should have a choice in who we support and endorse.” - Sincerely IBT 525.

A total of 22 out of 30 IBT members in Alton and 2 additional outside teamsters who don’t work for the city signed this letter.

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