Animal care workers at The Living Desert Zoo and Gardens in Palm Desert still do not have a union contract, more than three years after they first voted to organize, and the dispute now centers on a wage study that the union says left unionized staff out of raises other employees received.
Union negotiator Craig Palica said The Living Desert gave wage increases to some employees following a wage study, but that unionized workers were excluded from those increases while negotiations were underway, according to NBC Palm Springs. Palica characterized that exclusion as evidence of bad faith. The outlet reports that workers picketed again on Halloween, part of a broader fight dating back to when employees first voted to unionize in January 2023, as previously reported by KESQ.
The union says it has been negotiating for nearly four years without reaching a first contract, with multiple bargaining meetings allegedly canceled along the way, according to a separate report from NBC Palm Springs. A union negotiator told the San Luis Obispo Tribune that wage negotiations specifically had been stalled for close to two years as of the Halloween picket, where the union said roughly 38 members turned out.
Zoo Says It Accepted the Union's Own Wage Numbers
The Living Desert disputes the union's framing of the standoff. The zoo says it accepted the union-proposed wage scale in its June offer and then voluntarily implemented that wage scale on July 1, according to the zoo's own statement reported by NBC Palm Springs. An Animal Care Keeper job listing gives a wage of $19.23 an hour.
Those figures mark a shift from what the union was asking for earlier in the year. Back in May, the union was seeking roughly $19.23 an hour in starting wages while describing the zoo's offer at the time as closer to $18.54 an hour, per the same NBC Palm Springs account. Around that same period, keepers told KESQ their starting wages of $19.80 an hour were not enough to afford living in the Coachella Valley.
Per Palica, the union and the zoo had agreed on a 3% wage increase included in the union's proposal, but he said The Living Desert did not agree to a three-year contract. He said zoo management implemented what it described as its last, best and final offer and indicated it was unwilling to change that offer, even as the union requested further discussions and entered mediation.
A Dispute Over Mediation
The two sides also disagree about federal mediation. According to the zoo's statement, the union requested federal mediation, and the zoo said it did not oppose that request while waiting for notice that a mediator had been appointed.
The Living Desert declined an interview request for the NBC Palm Springs report.
Animal care workers are seeking a first contract.
How It Compares Elsewhere
Prolonged fights like this aren't unique to Palm Desert. A strike at Brookfield Zoo near Chicago ended after just three days this year when zoo and union officials reached a tentative four-year agreement covering animal care, facilities, custodial and security staff, according to the Chicago Sun-Times, with a proposal that included a 20% wage increase over the life of the contract. By contrast, San Diego Zoo animal-care postings in 2023 listed hourly wages of $22.83 and $24.29, according to The Desert Sun, which also reported that The Living Desert disputed claims of high animal-care turnover, saying its turnover rate had actually decreased in recent years.
