Ski patrollers at Park City Mountain in Utah made a triumphant return to the slopes Thursday, after ending a nearly two-week union strike over wages and benefits. The strike brought down the largest U.S. ski resort during a busy holiday season and sparked online outrage about widening economic inequality in rural mountain areas.
Late Wednesday, the Park City Professional Ski Patrollers Association ratified a contract with Vail Resorts, which owns Park City and more than 40 other ski areas, that increases the starting pay of ski patrollers and other mountain safety workers $2 an hour, at $23. More experienced patrolmen will receive an average increase of $7.75 per hour. The agreement also expands parental leave policies for employees and provides “industry-leading training opportunities,” according to the union.
The ski patrols were happy. “This contract is more than just a win for our team — it’s a groundbreaking success in the ski and mountain worker industry,” Seth Dromgoole, chief negotiator and 17-year Park City patrolman, said in a statement. “This effort shows what can be achieved when workers stand together and fight for what they deserve.”
Bill Rock, president of Vail Resorts’ Mountain Division, said in a statement that the deal “is consistent with our company’s salary structure for all patrolmen, non-union and union, while taking into account the unique complexities of its terrain and avalanches. Park City Mountain. “
Accusing Vail resorts of unfair labor practices, the Ski Patrolmen’s Union, which represents 204 ski patrollers and mountain safety personnel, went on strike Dec. 27. The strike received national attention as a fight between the haves and the have-nots — a nearly $10 billion global company versus the vital workers who help and protect skiers on its properties.
With few ski patrollers clearing trails, responding to accidents and performing avalanche mitigation, only about a quarter of Park City Mountain’s terrain was open during the strike.
Angry skiers and snowboarders in Park City soon tore down Vail, taking to social media and national news organizations to decry the long lift lines and contrast Vail’s high leadership salaries and expensive ticket prices with the relatively low wages of resort workers.
“Vail Resorts is killing skiing, ski towns and ski culture everywhere they go,” one person wrote on Instagram.
“We apologize to our guests who have been affected by this strike and are incredibly grateful to our team who have worked hard to keep the mountain open and operating safely over the past two weeks,” said Mr. Rock, by Vail Resorts.
The strike also highlighted the role patrols play—and the risks they take—in running a major ski area. Typically, professional ski patrollers must obtain emergency medical certifications and undergo training in avalanche mitigation and search and rescue. They are required to ski in difficult terrain and are expected to successfully drive a heavy sled loaded with an injured skier. Snow safety personnel, who are also in the union, ski in avalanche terrain and throw explosives to trigger avalanches to ensure the safety of guests.
The strike also highlighted a troubling issue increasingly found in many rural mountain communities supported by tourism: The rising cost of living. In Park City, a city of about 8,400, the cost of living is 33 percent higher than the national average, according to the Institute for Economic Research. Some estimates are much higher. The median price of a new home in Park City is nearly $2 million, according to realtor.com, and more than 70 percent of the homes are vacant or used as second homes. The Park City ski patrol union says the living wage in Park City is $27 an hour, much higher than the $23 starting wage a ski patrol recently earned.
During the strike, Park City ski patrols attracted widespread support from the public, receiving more than $300,000 in a GoFundMe fund, to which more than 4,000 people contributed.
As of 2021, the number of ski resort workers in the United States, mostly ski patrollers and lift operators, who are unionized has nearly doubled, according to Ski Area Management, a trade journal. The United Mountain Workers, part of the Communications Workers of America, now represents nearly 1,100 ski industry employees in 16 bargaining units in four western states, 13 of which represent ski patrols, including those in Park City.
At other resorts across the country, ski patrols were buoyed by the strike’s success.
Ryan Anderson, vice president of the ski patrol union at Vail-owned Breckenridge Ski Resort in Colorado, said the Utah outcome could be a step toward ending what he called, “an exodus to our mountain towns.”
“I hope that this strike has the effect of announcing that these communities must be considered serious partners in successful ventures and not just a source of labor that can be exploited,” he said.
Jon Jamieson, a sophomore ski patroller in Park City, described the resolution as “overwhelming, with a lot of tears.”
“It’s a bunch of regular people punching the clock sitting at a table with this giant corporation and coming out ahead,” he said. “It would be really nice to think that this is a turning point.”
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