Shortly after taking office for his second term, President Trump laid off a quarter of the agency’s employees. Other austerity measures followed, including spending freezes, threats of further layoffs, and reduced worker protections.
Labor unions for federal employees have been fighting back against many of these actions, accusing the administration of illegally firing park employees.
This situation has motivated hundreds of park employees to join labor unions in recent months, according to union representatives. On June 17, the National Treasury Employees Union (NTEU) announced that about 650 workers at 87 park sites, including Glacier National Park, voted to join. That followed many other unionization efforts across the park service.
Roughly 250 Grand Canyon National Park workers joined NTEU in November. Another 600 workers at Yosemite, Sequoia & Kings Canyon national parks joined another union, the National Federation of Federal Employees (NFFE) last summer. More votes for unionization are expected this summer.
This wave of unionization is a response to workers fearing job loss and hoping that labor unions can protect them, said Charlotte Graveline, who represents recently unionized workers in the National Park Service (NPS).
“They were worried about their jobs because of the probationary firings and threat of reduction-in-force that was occurring last year,” Graveline told GearJunkie. “And they saw that it was the federal employee unions, including NTEU, that were fighting those actions.”
GearJunkie reached out to the Interior Department for comment, but did not hear back this week.
A Long Trend Toward Unionization
The park workers who voted for unionization in June created a new chapter of NTEU that will represent workers throughout the NPS Intermountain Region, which includes parks throughout the Mountain West. The movement toward unionization at these parks started in spring 2025, shortly after the firings of thousands of park workers.
“I do think that this win is a reflection of increased interest in union representation among both park and federal employees,” Graveline said. “As we spoke with people, the idea that we can fight for better working conditions, better pay, better housing conditions, and a myriad of other things took hold. I think that we’ve been moving toward unionization within the National Park Service for a while now.”
Even before Trump’s second term, there was growing momentum for union representation among park workers. About 80% of workers at Yellowstone National Park voted to join NFFE in 2023. It took 3 years of effort to get there. NFFE organizers said at the time that “low pay, unmanageable workloads, high rent, a stifling hierarchy, and many other issues” motivated the union vote.
The mass layoffs and budget cuts from the Trump administration only amplified those issues, according to union representatives.
“For decades there has been a saying within the NPS: ‘We get paid in sunsets.’ National Park Service employees are in this career because we care deeply about the parks, the history, and the visitors,” Graveline said. “Such dedicated employees deserve to be treated fairly and have their rights respected.”
And the movement continues to grow. More park workers in the NPS’ Pacific West Region (which includes 18 national parks, such as Joshua Tree and Death Valley) are expected to vote on joining NTEU in July.
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