Teamsters Local 700 members voted Wednesday, Sept. 2, to ratify a new contract with the Forest Preserves of Cook County, ending a 16-day strike. Maintenance crews were expected back on trails and picnic groves across the 70,000-acre system Thursday, Sept. 3.

The deal covers roughly 230 employees who clear roads, maintain trails, clean buildings and empty trash cans across the district, according to the Forest Preserves of Cook County. That includes workers on the Des Plaines River Trail and North Branch Trail used by Park Ridge and Niles residents.

The strike began Aug. 17 and was the first walkout by the Local 700 unit at the Forest Preserves, the Chicago Tribune reported. Preserves remained open throughout, but routine upkeep stopped.

What the contract includes

The new agreement provides a 2% raise retroactive to January 2026, another 2% in July 2026 and a 4% raise in July 2027. Full-time employees receive a one-time $2,500 payment; seasonal workers get $1,250. The deal also adds paid lunch and breaks, new overtime rules, advance scheduling notice, seniority-based shift selection for landscape maintenance workers and a cut of weekend responsibilities in half for resource management staff.

One issue the contract does not resolve: the union's pay scale, a step-increase structure that Local 700 identified as a central grievance. Union Vice President Anthony McGee told the Tribune the union plans to raise the wage scale issue when bargaining reopens in 2027.

"I think the Forest Preserve, by way of giving in on so many critical issues, understands that the members are a force to be reckoned with and are going to be compelled to deal with this wage scale issue in the future," McGee said.

General Superintendent Adam Bianchi said in a statement that the agreement addresses issues raised by Local 700 while keeping the Forest Preserves on a sustainable fiscal path. When the strike began Aug. 17, Bianchi had said the district was "confident that we can negotiate with the union to find a solution within our confines."

The strike ended days before the Labor Day weekend, a peak period for trail use across the preserves.