Animal Care Keepers at The Living Desert Zoo and Gardens strike for fair contract

Members of The Living Desert Animal Care Union held a one-day strike on Saturday, October 31 based on the Living Desert Zoo and Gardens’ unfair labor practices (ULP), such as union-busting activities, retaliation affecting wages, and bad-faith bargaining.

The Living Desert Animal Care Union, which represents around 40 animal care keepers, has been negotiating their first union contract with The Living Desert Zoo and Gardens (TLD) for more than three years.

“I think it [striking] has been quite some time coming because of everything that has kind of happened leading up to this,” said Devon Campbell, an animal care keeper at the zoo. “Since we really didn’t see a lot of movement after picketing, this may be all we can do to show how much we care about our jobs, how much we want to be here, and that we’re not going anywhere.” 

The union held an informational picket in May after a breakdown in negotiations. Following the informational picket, management continued to engage in unfair labor practices by soliciting anti-union support, providing wage increases to non-union employees only, impeding progress toward a fair union contract, and much more.

“They [TLD leadership] have been union busting by discouraging union participation, and they also have retaliated against us by offering wage increases to other departments and excluding animal care," said Animal Care Keeper Madison Hampton. "They are also fighting us on the length of the contract and won’t allow us to have union dues automatically taken from our paychecks.”

“We really hope that they come back to the table with something that is reasonable,” said Campbell. “We’re hoping for a fair contract. We don’t want any more retaliation. We want to be treated at least as well as other employees”