Park City Ski Patrol Strike

[MarzNC]

The union vote at Big Sky was held in 2021.

May 2021

Big Sky ski patrollers form union

Big Sky ski patrollers now have a union after a recent representation vote passed 69 to 21.

www.bozemandailychronicle.com

"Big Sky ski patrollers now have a union after a recent representation vote passed 69 to 21.

Ski patrollers said one of the main reasons for unionizing was to make ski patrolling a career that can be done long-term in a place growing in population and price at the rate Big Sky is.

“We love ski patrolling, we love Lone Mountain, we love the community at Big Sky and our goal is to make ski patrolling a sustainable career by working with the resort to increase wages, benefits and working conditions,” said Florence Miller, a member of the organizing committee who has worked as a patroller at Big Sky for three years. “As Big Sky and the region have grown, the cost of living in the region has increased. By unionizing, we are hoping to negotiate wages and benefits that grow with the community we work in.”
. . ."

 

[MarzNC]

Turns out that patrollers were unionized at Crested Butte back in the 1970s. That's long before Triple Peaks (Okemo, Sunapee) bought CB in 2004. VR took over CB as part of aquiring Triple Peaks in 2018. The union effort that's more recent at CB was by the lift mechanics. Fair to say that VR management wasn't in favor of having another union handling contract negotiations at CB.

July 2023

Crested Butte Lift Mechanics, Electricians Vote to Unionize

SAM Magazine—Crested Butte, Colo., July 5, 2023—Lift mechanics and electricians at Crested Butte Mountain Resort (CBMR) voted 7 to 3 to form the Crested Bu

www.saminfo.com

May 2023

https://coloradosun.com/2023/05/27/crested-butte-mountain-resort-lift-mechanics-unionize/

 

[MarzNC]

There will be several ski patrol unions in contract talks with VR in 2025, for Keystone, Breckenridge, and Crested Butte. The CB lift mechanics and electricians also are in the midst of contract negotiations.

January 3, 2025

Ski patrol strike disrupting holiday week at Park City may set tone for union talks ahead in Colorado

Vail Resorts has been sending non-union managers to mind its Park City ski area as Colorado ski patrollers worry about morale

coloradosun.com

" . . . United Mountain Workers union representing 1,110 workers at 13 ski resorts under the Communications Workers of America Local 7781. The resort worker union could grow if the 57 pro patrollers at Alterra Mountain Co.-owned Arapahoe Basin vote to unionize later this month."
. . ."

 

[MarzNC]

Took a while to figure out how to search for stuff relevant to a union representing ski patrollers. Don't know when this website was created. It feels new, meaning perhaps from 2024.

Scrolling down on the webpage about the "units" provided what I was looking for . . . the timing of when each resort union was formed. Also has numbers for the membership of some unions. Steamboat patrollers got organized in 1998, after an ownership change but long before Alterra was created. The Telluride ski patrol union dates from 2015. The list of units includes ABasin even though the vote is coming up next week.

Turns out that Canyons had a ski patrol union starting in 2001. VR took ownership of Park City and Canyons (once called Park City West) in 2015. The latest contract for patrollers at Park City ended in April 2024.

About the Park City ski patrol union:
"Park City Professional Ski Patrol Union (PCPSPA) represents over 200 professional ski patrollers and mountain safety personnel at Park City Mountain Resort in the Wasatch Mountains of Utah. PCPSPA was born of the Canyons Ski Patrol Association organized in 2001 and is one of the founding units of CWA Local 7781. When Vail Resorts merged The Canyons with neighboring Park City Mountain Resort in 2015, the newly combined patrol programs voted to maintain the union for patrollers across both sides of the resort under the PCPSPA. In doing so, they also brought Mountain Safety workers into their bargaining unit."

Part of the mission statement on the homepage of the United Mountain Workers:
"
United Mountain Workers (UMW) represents ski industry professionals from across the West under Communication Workers of America (CWA) AFL-CIO Local 7781.

UMW is a union of over 1,100 essential workers from 16 distinct units at 13 ski resorts. Our membership includes ski patrollers, bike patrollers, and ski lift mechanics and electricians working in technical, hazardous, and under-compensated roles. Working these positions in a mountain setting requires unique grit and tenacity: UMW is enormously proud to represent this group in a unified pursuit of sustainable, respectful wages and benefits, improved workplace safety, and just employment standards reflective of their competence and skills.
. . ."

https://www.unitedmountainworkers.org/units - as of January 3, 2024:

 

[Benny Profane]

Uh, corporate lacky spokesperson for Oligarchs had a bad trip to Park City with his family. He had no clue this was happening. Boy, is this bad PR. The CNBC audience is your classic Vail Inc customer.

https://www.powder.com/news/cnbc-angry-vail-resorts-park-city-strike

 

[Milo Maltbie]

Uh, corporate lacky spokesperson for Oligarchs had a bad trip to Park City with his family. He had no clue this was happening. Boy, is this bad PR. The CNBC audience is your classic Vail Inc customer.

https://www.powder.com/news/cnbc-angry-vail-resorts-park-city-strike

Still fun to see the oligarchs turning on each other.

mm

 

[Benny Profane]

Deer Valley and Snowbasin must be crowded.

 

[MarzNC]

Deer Valley and Snowbasin must be crowded.

Not with people who bought an Epic pass.

 

[Benny Profane]

I meant with these poor folks who scheduled a trip and just want to ski. Some can afford the window.

 

[DomB]

I think Deer Valley limits use even fore Ikon pass holders . . . .