The oyster shuckers, cooks, servers, and dishwashers who walked off the job at The Walrus and the Carpenter on June 18 are heading back to work.

Sea Creatures management and the United Creatures of the Sea union reached a tentative agreement on a first union contract Wednesday night, June 24, ending the weeklong strike that shuttered the Ballard Avenue NW oyster bar. The deal also covers workers at both General Porpoise doughnut shop locations, according to The Stranger, which first reported the agreement Thursday, June 25.

Contract terms have not been disclosed. The agreement is pending a ratification vote by union members, and no date for that vote has been announced.

If ratified, The Walrus and the Carpenter will join a small handful of unionized independent restaurants in Seattle.

Workers voted to unionize in early 2025 after an all-staff meeting where Sea Creatures management announced it was replacing tip pooling with a service charge model. The union said the change lowered wages for some employees. After more than a year of contract negotiations stalled, members authorized the strike unanimously.

The picket line outside 4743 Ballard Ave. NW drew competing accounts of what happened there. Sea Creatures management closed the restaurant Monday, June 22, and Tuesday, June 23, citing safety concerns and claiming picketers harassed guests. The union disputed those accounts. On Wednesday, June 24, before the deal was struck, the restaurant reopened with security escorts guiding guests from a rear parking area to the door.

The union also filed complaints with the National Labor Relations Board alleging Sea Creatures unlawfully changed working conditions during bargaining.

Sea Creatures, the restaurant group founded by James Beard Award-winning chef Renee Erickson and partner Jeremy Price, published an open letter on Monday, June 23, acknowledging deep financial strain. Management wrote that "as conditions worsened, we were forced to make painful decisions." The group closed The Whale Wins and all but two General Porpoise locations during 2025. Its Capitol Hill steakhouse Bateau was renamed Jeffry's and reopened in April 2026 after a failed sale to its chef and general manager.

Jeffry's staff voted to decertify the union earlier in June 2026 after employee turnover eroded majority support, so those workers are not covered by the new tentative agreement.

Sea Creatures management did not return The Stranger's request for comment on the deal.

The tentative agreement makes the Walrus one of the first independent restaurants in Seattle to operate under a collective bargaining agreement. For Ballard Avenue business owners watching the dispute unfold outside their storefronts, the resolution removes the immediate disruption of picket-line traffic. Whether the contract's still-unknown terms prove sustainable for a restaurant group that has publicly acknowledged significant debt and losses remains unresolved.

Union members must vote to ratify before the contract takes effect. No timeline has been set.