Parks workers fight for first meaningful raise in 17 years

Since 2009, King County parks workers have received only small cost of living adjustments, all eaten up by inflation 

SEATTLE, WA (June 23, 2026) — After more than a year of negotiations, frontline workers in King County’s Department of Natural Resources and Parks still don’t have a new collective bargaining agreement. Workers are committed to securing meaningful raises, something their bargaining unit has gone without since the start of the first Obama administration. For 17 years, they’ve received only cost of living adjustments. But inflation has risen more than 52% since 2009, eating away at those small COLAs. Still, workers report that the county refuses to offer the meaningful raises, leaving workers struggling to afford to live in one of the most expensive regions in the country.

“Like other union groups, we’ve received the standard ‘cost-of-living’ increases over the years, but they’ve been outpaced by inflation, all while our job responsibilities have grown significantly,” said Kelly Hollowood, SEIU 925 King County Parks Chapter Vice President. “That’s why we’re one of the last remaining groups still bargaining with the County.”

Photo: SEIU 925

After months of bargaining, workers are still running into a management brick wall at the table, as the County negotiators look to an arbitrary formula to calculate raises, one that relies on data that doesn’t reflect Parks workers actual workload, per bargaining unit leadership.

“Sitting at the bargaining table with representatives from the County, it certainly doesn’t feel like they want to engage in any real bargaining,” said Ryan Porter, SEIU 925 King County Parks Chapter President. “They have reduced ‘calculating’ potential wage increases to a formula — and that formula depends on if multiple other organizations are already paying more. In many cases, the County’s ‘comparable positions’ from other (much smaller) municipalities don’t cover nearly as much work as we do every day.”

In a statement to The STAND, the SEIU 925 King County Parks bargaining team shared their frustration with how Parks management has dismissed their concerns about low pay, reporting that “the County has flatly dismissed the fact that the cost-of-living in King County has rapidly increased, and many of our members can’t even afford to live in the communities we serve. The County representatives have been very callous about this, and have told us directly, ‘our situation is not unique.'”

Yet publicly, elected leaders in King County have pressured private companies to pay workers a living wage for the high-cost county they work in.

“County Executive Girmay Zahilay has made multiple public statements about how companies like REI and others need to pay a living wage for King County, and here we are as County employees desperately fighting for the same consideration,” the workers’ statement continued.

“We agree with Executive Zahilay that every working-class person should be able to afford to live where they work. We just wish the County’s Office of Labor Relations shared that sentiment.”

TAKE A STAND: Send an email to King County Office of Labor Relations and Parks Division Management urging them tp pay workers what they deserve and settle a fair contract now.