National Parks Staff at Yosemite and Sequoia Unionize, Citing DOGE Firings and Working Conditions

More than 600 staff across Yosemite and Sequoia & Kings Canyon National Parks have unionized after results of a summer election were certified this week.

According to the National Federation of Federal Employees, a union that represents employees of the federal government, 97% of employees voted to elect NFFE as their union representative. The voting lasted from July 22 to Aug. 19, and included both permanent and seasonal employees.

The NFFE already represents workers at a number of national parks across the country, including Yellowstone and Cuyahoga Valley National Parks. At the two California parks, all National Park Service employees — from park rangers to researchers to first responders — will be eligible for the union.

According to one park ranger who was part of the parks’ unionizing effort, who wished to remain anonymous for fear of retaliation, said the move was largely driven by the White House’s mass layoff of parks workers in February — many of whom were reinstated as the legality of the firings is being debated in court. 

“These firings kind of tipped over the scale,” the ranger said. “We need to have some protections, and I wish that we had had them before February, but better late than never.” (KQED has reached out to NPS for comment on the unionization.)

‘Someone on our side’

Under President Donald Trump’s second administration, National Park Service staff have found themselves increasingly under fire. In addition to the February layoffs and his proposal to slash the National Park Service’s budget, Trump issued an executive order in March directing parks staff — and visitors — to flag any content on display within national parks that “inappropriately disparage[s] Americans past or living” for removal.

Permanent staffing at national parks around the United States has fallen 24% since Trump took office, according to the National Parks Conservation Association.

When it comes to contract negotiations, National President of the NFFE Randy Erwin said the union also hopes to address longstanding issues facing national parks workers like low pay and what he called “deplorable” housing conditions.

“They’re tired of their agencies and the work that they do being threatened,” he said, “and they understand that through a union, they can protect themselves and solve a lot of the problems that they’re dealing with right now.”

The park ranger who spoke to KQED echoed Erwin’s concerns about housing and other workplace safety issues, noting that while this year has brought unprecedented challenges to their workforce, workers have long been calling for better working conditions.

Park staff’s requests have included hazard pay for working outside amid dangerous levels of wildfire smoke and employer-provided housing that’s safe from contaminants like hantavirus — a disease that has long posed a health problem at Yosemite. That’s on top of their concerns that rising rent costs at the employer-provided housing are outpacing their pay increases, the ranger said.

“Our employer is not just responsible for our salary and workplace, but also they’re our landlord,” the ranger said. “So they control our rent, they control our housing quality … and so it just makes sense that there should be a contract that goes the other direction as well.”

Erwin said the union may face obstacles in negotiating with the federal government, as NFFE has been “getting all kinds of pushback from this administration in collective bargaining.”

But in the near term, the ranger told KQED that park workers will have access to something new: legal representation should they get fired or be subject to any illegal practices.

“The union can hold [the administration] to some level of accountability, to do their diligence,” he said. “That would go a long ways in all of this — to feel like there’s someone on our side.”