close
close

Why the Park City ski patrol union is on strike

Why the Park City ski patrol union is on strike

PARK CITY, Utah – The Park City Professional Ski Patrol Association stopped working Friday after lengthy negotiations to increase its wages and working conditions. The union had previously expressed disappointment with Vail Resorts’ offers.

The union posted on its Facebook page: “This morning at 7:30 a.m. our members hung up their jackets, walked out of the locker room and formed a picket line in solidarity to step up our fight for better wages and working conditions.”

“We are fighting to compensate our patrollers for the skills, training and experience they bring to this mountain,” said Margaux Klingensmith, executive director of the Park City Professional Ski Patrol Association. “We’re just trying to keep up with the inflation rate from two years ago, so we’re asking for an increase in the base rate from $21 an hour to $23 an hour.”

In November, the union staged demonstrations and threatened a full-scale strike if its demands were not met. Last month they said the resort’s counteroffer included an increase of less than 0.5% and removed key elements from the current contract.

“Right now we have patrol officers who have been on the force for fifteen to twenty years, doing as much or less than patrol officers who have been here for three to five years,” Klingensmith said.

According to the union, the resort met with them for seven hours on Thursday in a bargaining session. During the meeting, the company refused to make a counteroffer on wages or benefits. The union also alleged that Vail Resorts brought employees from other resorts to work during work stoppages.

According to Deirdra Walsh, vice president and chief operating officer of Park City Mountain, both parties agreed to mediate for a full day on Friday.

“Because of the union’s actions today, we must now focus on business continuity,” Walsh said. “We are deeply disappointed that the patrol union has decided to quit in the middle of mediation.” We have made progress on 24 of the 27 articles and are therefore very proud of the way we negotiated in good faith. That’s what we’re committed to.”

Vail Resorts sent FOX 13 News the following statement regarding the strike:

“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 contractual terms. We want to assure skiers and snowboarders, our employees and this community that despite the union’s actions, Park City Mountain remains open with safety as a priority, and all planned terrain will be open thanks to experienced patrol leaders from Park City Mountain and our other mountain resorts be. In addition to the more than 50 percent pay increase over the past four seasons, the current Park City Mountain Patrol proposal increases wages an additional 4 percent for the majority of patrol officers and provides $1,600 per patrol officer for equipment. Again, we are surprised by the union’s action as we had planned a full day of productive mediation today before they left. Unfortunately, this will not progress as planned as our negotiating team must now focus on operational continuity today. We remain committed to reaching an agreement.”

Deirdra Walsh, vice president and COO of Park City Mountain

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *