About 230 Forest Preserves of Cook County workers returned to the job Thursday, Sept. 3, after ratifying a new contract that ended a 16-day strike.

Members of Teamsters Local 700 voted Wednesday, Sept. 2, to accept the deal, which includes wage increases, one-time payments and improved working conditions. The strike, which began Monday, Aug. 17, was the first by the unit, the Chicago Tribune reported.

The workers are truck drivers, mechanics, skilled trades employees and other staff who clear roads, maintain equipment, collect trash, conduct prescribed burns and keep trails and picnic groves usable across the district's more than 70,000 acres.

Under the contract, workers receive a 2 percent raise retroactive to January 2026, another 2 percent increase in July 2026 and a 4 percent raise in July 2027. Full-time employees also get a one-time $2,500 payment. Seasonal employees receive $1,250. The contract runs through the end of 2027.

The agreement also includes paid lunches and breaks, overtime pay for workers who log six or seven consecutive days, shift selection by seniority for landscape maintenance employees and weekend duties cut in half for resource management staff, according to the Tribune.

"Our members did not want a strike, they wanted to be treated like the skilled public employees they are," Teamsters Local 700 President Ramon Williams said in a statement, according to Patch.

One key issue remains unresolved. The pay scale, a step-increase structure the union identified as a central grievance, did not change in the new contract. Union Vice President Anthony McGee told the Tribune the union plans to raise the issue again when bargaining resumes in 2027.

General Superintendent Adam Bianchi said in a Sept. 2 statement that the agreement addresses the union's concerns while keeping the district on a sustainable fiscal path.

Before the walkout, the union argued its members earned less than employees doing similar work at other public agencies. The district maintained its proposal was competitive and financially sustainable.

The preserves stayed open throughout the strike, though a number of volunteers paused stewardship activities in support of the workers, WTTW News reported. The district includes popular trails near Evanston, including the North Branch Trail System, which runs about 20 miles through Skokie, Morton Grove, Northbrook and other neighboring communities.

Full maintenance operations resumed across the system Thursday, Sept. 3.