Glacier employees vote to unionize

Glacier National Park employees have voted to join a union along with employees from 11 other National Park Service units around the Intermountain West. 

As employment numbers fluctuate throughout the year, an exact figure of new union members isn’t currently available, but Peri Sasnet, a Glacier Park employee and interim officer of the new union, said more than 100 Glacier employees are part of the effort. 

Sasnett said while some unions representing different park service units have historically not included all types of workers, the National Treasury Employees Union includes everyone from frontline staff to seasonal workers to scientists and administrators. 

“I’m a seasonal worker, so it was important to me that everyone is included,” Sasnett said. “Having a union, having some degree of protection, having a voice on the job to speak up on behalf of the workers, that’s going to help us do our jobs better.”

According to a union press release, the park service employees will be represented by the NTEU following a 317-11 vote last month. There is no information about how employees at each park unit voted. 

“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 statement. “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.”

The National Treasury Employees Union Chapter 347 will include more than 650 employees from multiple park units, including Glacier, Grand Teton, Grand Canyon and Rocky Mountain national parks. 

Three years ago, employees at Yellowstone National Park organized under the National Federation of Federal Employees, with more than 80% voting to unionize. Last year, Sequoia and Kings Canyon and Yosemite national park employees also voted to unionize. 

A spokesperson for Glacier National Park referred the Daily Montanan to the union representative for comment. 

Sasnett said the conversations around organizing began last year when the Trump administration began efforts to cut the federal workforce, including offering buyouts and deferred retirements to employees before laying off thousands across the country’s land management agencies. 

“Things felt very precarious for federal employees, and we were watching colleagues lose their jobs,” Sasnett said. “As we read the news, it became very clear that federal unions were the ones stepping up to fight for federal workers. Those of us who were non-union federal workers started asking ourselves how we could unionize and protect ourselves.”

In one batch of terminations last February, called the “Valentine’s Day Massacre” by some federal employees, more than 750 National Park Service employees were removed from their positions, including two from Glacier, one from Grant Kohrs Ranch, and seven from Yellowstone. 

After more than a month of legal action, the Park Service was authorized to reinstate roughly 1,000 park staff who were terminated, creating further uncertainty for workers’ futures. 

“I think the union gives employees, and myself, a lot of hope for the future. We work at Glacier, we work for the National Park Service because we love our jobs, and we love these places — both the physical places and landscapes but also the pieces of history we preserve and protect. People keep telling me that they’re doing this not only for themselves, but for the next generation of employees. People are really thinking long term about how to make this a sustainable place to work.”