The Park City ski patrol is on strike

The Park City Professional Ski Patrol Association began its strike Friday morning following arbitration in contract negotiations with Vail Resorts on Thursday.

Patrol officers and supporters gathered in groups at Park City Mountain’s Mountain Village and Canyons Village starting at 7:30 a.m. Friday to maintain their picket lines.

“Vail Resorts forced this strike through malicious negotiations and repeated violations of the National Labor Relations Act,” the union said in a statement Friday. “Consistent with Vail’s bad faith tactics, the company continued to refuse to make a counteroffer on wages or benefits after yesterday’s seven-hour bargaining session with a mediator present.”

The union is on strike over unfair labor practices related to the numerous charges filed last week with the National Labor Board against Vail Resorts. The union wants to use these picket lines to “strengthen its fight for better wages and working conditions,” they said.

“This escalation by Vail has proven that it is not their intention to make us a reasonable offer,” the union said. “It is clear that the company sees more
places more emphasis on anti-union tactics than investing in the workforce. However, it is the safety and experience of the ski public as well as the livelihoods of the ski patrollers and other staff who will bear the costs.”

The ski patrol union confirmed Saturday that Vail Resorts plans to bring additional Vail employees to Park City Mountain to fill ski patrol and mountain safety specialist positions in the event of a strike. These temporary workers are called scabs.

“Park City Mountain has plans to safely operate the resort throughout the season. We agreed to the patrol union’s request to schedule mediation this week. However, the union has continued to state that it can call a strike at any time, including before arbitration,” Park City Mountain Vice President and COO Deirdra Walsh said Monday. “If necessary, we stand ready to deploy our patrol support team, which is comprised of experienced patrollers from Park City Mountain and our other mountain resorts.

“We are really frustrated to hear that the company has chosen to try to mitigate the effects of a strike rather than the symptoms of a strike,” said Margaux Klingensmith, union executive and sixth-year patrol officer. “If we had seen that the same time, effort and money they put into recruiting scabs would go into a fair contract for the people who have already spent years qualifying in Park City To become skilled workers, we wouldn’t have had to authorize a strike.”

Klingensmith said Monday that it was pleased with the quick settlement and agreement to mediation, although it was less than optimistic about the company’s return to the negotiating table on Thursday.

Park City’s ski patrol union has been in contract negotiations with Vail Resorts, the parent company of Park City Mountain, since April 2024. Since then, negotiators have reached tentative agreements on 24 treaty articles, with the final three remaining open to mediators this week. Both sides agreed to mediate on Monday, December 16, following tensions in the room the week before.

These three remaining articles on wages and benefits were a major point of contention during the year’s negotiations. The union filed four unfair labor practice charges against Vail Resorts in mid-December. These allegations relate to the company’s delays and denial of requested information related to the bargaining process, failure to meet at appropriate intervals, and the company’s internal telephone calls to patrol officers asking whether they would be on a picket line in the event of a strike Quinn Graves said last week.

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