Park City ski patrollers leave the mountain, Vail, to get replacements

PARK CITY — Nearly 200 ski patrol and mountain safety workers didn’t show up for work Friday morning, but instead took part in a strike that the Park City Professional Ski Patrol Association is calling unfair labor practices.

According to Deirdra Walsh, vice president of Park City Mountain Resort, the decision to strike came suddenly after a negotiating meeting with a mediator on Thursday evening. Another meeting was planned for Friday.

“We are deeply disappointed that the patrol union has abandoned arbitration and taken drastic action to disrupt mountain operations in the middle of the holiday season, considering we have invested significantly in the patrol and their wages have increased by more over the past four seasons than 50%.” “And we have reached agreements on 24 of the 27 current contract terms,” ​​Walsh said in a prepared statement.

In an earlier news release Sunday, Walsh reported that Vail Resorts was “ready to deploy our patrol support team, comprised of experienced patrollers from Park City Mountain and our other mountain resorts.”

According to a press release sent out Friday morning, union officials accuse the Vail Resort of using “bad faith tactics,” stalling and refusing “to make a counteroffer on wages or benefits over the past two weeks.” Margaux Klingensmith, a union executive director, told KSL.com in an earlier interview that patrol officers had to work entire shifts before heading to negotiations exhausted, calling the protracted negotiations “untenable.”

The union has filed multiple allegations of unfair labor practices with the National Labor Relations Board, the release said, and the group is calling on the community to boycott all company-owned businesses.

“Do not purchase day passes, do not purchase food at the lodges, do not use Vail-owned music and rental stores, do not stay in accommodations owned by Vail Resorts,” the release said.

Backup ski patrol personnel will be “provided with training and resources to specialize in their assigned terrain area,” according to Walsh, and two medical clinics will be set up on site for skiers.

Walsh called a pre-arbitration strike a “drastic measure” and said returning patrol officers would receive a 4% pay raise and a $1,600 equipment allowance this season. Union officials claim that 3.5% of this wage increase is due to company-wide performance increases from last season, which are being withheld as a bargaining chip.

Walsh said ski patrol positions are very competitive, with nearly 3,000 applications for 300 positions. “Park City Mountain seasonal patrollers’ salaries have increased by more than 50% over the past four seasons, far outpacing inflation,” their statement said, and the company’s pay offer “is in line with agreements reached by patrollers in.” our other mountain resorts, both union and non-union-union.”

A GoFundMe* launched by the union has raised over $32,000 to make up for lost wages during the strike.

The ski patrol association plans to call for members to picket the canyons and mountain communities along Park City Mountain until a deal is reached.

*KSL.com does not guarantee that funds deposited into the account will be used for the benefit of the persons named as beneficiaries. If you are considering making a deposit into the Account, you should consult your own advisors and otherwise proceed at your own risk.