Glacier National Park employees vote to unionize

Workers in Glacier National Park and 11 other National Park Service sites across the West have voted to unionize, a move that comes after the Trump administration made drastic cuts to the Park Service last year. 

The vote took place over three weeks in late May and early June, and ballots were due on June 16. The votes were tallied the following day, and the election was expected to be officially certified Thursday. According to the National Treasury Employees Union, the final tally was 317 to 11. NTEU Chapter 347 will include approximately 650 non-supervisor employees across the National Park Service’s Intermountain Region. Among the parks represented by the union are Glacier, Grand Canyon and Grand Teton. Yellowstone National Park employees organized under the wing of a different union in 2023. 

NTEU has two other NPS chapters representing employees at its headquarters and the Capital Region in Washington, D.C. NTEU represents employees in 38 different federal agencies and departments.

“This is a historic day for these NPS employees, who have chosen to stand together in solidarity and have a meaningful voice in their workplace,” said NTEU National President Doreen Greenwald in a press release. “We congratulate them on joining colleagues at NPS and across government who are empowered through their union to bring positive change to the agencies and advocate for the tools and resources they need to serve the American people.”

A spokesperson for Glacier National Park did not immediately respond to a request for comment Thursday.

Last year, the National Parks Conservation Association estimated that more than 4,000 NPS staff members had left their jobs since Trump took office, as a result of early retirements and layoffs, and a months-long hiring freeze prevented key positions from being filled. Sarah Lundstrum, NPCA’s Glacier program manager, said last year that Glacier Park had seen its year-round staff — usually between 120 and 130 people — reduced by about 25%.

The cuts to NPS have motivated organizing efforts across the country, including at Sequoia & Kings Canyon and Yosemite national parks.

Peri Sasnett, a Park Service employee who has worked at Glacier for eight seasons and is an interim union officer, said those efforts inspired employees in the NPS Intermountain Region. 

“People at the National Park Service are incredibly passionate about their jobs, and no one gets rich doing this,” Sasnett told Montana Free Press. “We come back year after year because we love these places and we want to protect these places. We believe that the job protections the union offers will help us do that.”

Sasnett noted that she was speaking in her personal capacity, not as a representative of NPS. 

Once the vote is certified, Sasnett and others will begin setting up the chapter, including holding a leadership election. 

This is not the first time Glacier Park employees have unionized. In 1932, workers organized with the National Federation of Federal Employees, but that effort later fizzled out.