The International Longshoremen’s Association South Atlantic and Gulf Coast District announced today they’re rescinding support of Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner.

The union stated their decision to not support Turner in his 2019 re-election bid was largely because of his delay to implement voter approved firefighter pay parity.

“Mayor Turner has turned his back on Houston Firefighters, the labor movement, and Houston voters in his apparent refusal to bargain in good faith with the firefighters for a mutual resolution,” ILA District President Alan A. Robb said. “Mayor Turner’s administration is apparently seeking an erosion of public employee rights in pending litigation which has caused the ILA concern and is a factor in our opposition to Mayor Turner.”

The group represents over 65,000 longshore workers along the eastern and gulf coasts, including one of the nation’s largest ports, the Port of Houston.

This comes a week after Turner lost the support of the Houston Federation of Teacher’s (HFT) who said that his attack on collective bargaining rights was a bridge too far. Yesterday, HFT joined with the Houston Professional Firefighters Association to protest outside of city hall over the mayor’s delay of implementing pay raises for the fire department.

Charles Blain

Charles Blain is the president of Urban Reform and Urban Reform Institute. A native of New Jersey, he is based in Houston and writes on municipal finance and other urban issues.