The conservation group Defenders of Wildlife and its employees have finalized a union contract, they announced Thursday.
The group’s leaders and union members lauded their new collective bargaining agreement in a joint statement. The deal follows several years of heated negotiations inside the nonprofit and comes several months after a new boss took the reins.
The agreement was ratified by a unanimous vote Dec. 11, management and union organizers said. It “optimizes staff compensation and establishes new benefits for all current and future staff,” they said in their statement.
The employee union, Defenders United, formed in 2021 and sparred with management over wage increases and access to benefits. The union went on strike for two days in July.
