Joshua Tree National Park employees join unionizing efforts in Pacific Coast West Region

National Park Service employees across the Pacific Coast West Region of parks have voted to be represented by the National Treasury Employees Union (NTEU). The union has announced that they will now represent around 450 park rangers, maintenance workers, fee collectors, scientists, and other non-supervisory roles in National Park sites in Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Nevada, Hawaii and California.

The organization Unionize NPS announced the election results on August 4th, and the press release says that this is the 11th successful union election across the National Park Service in the 12 months they have been campaigning nationwide to protect worker rights in public lands. Unionize NPS says that workers are unionizing for one purpose: to be able to continue to serve the American public, and they are looking to secure safer working conditions, fair treatment, decent living wages, livable housing, and an elimination of threats of illegal firing and retaliation.

The newly formed NTEU Chapter 348 includes over 500 NPS employees in 14 NPS sites, including Joshua Tree National Park and Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area.

You can learn more about the NPS unionization efforts at unionizenps.org