PARK CITY, Utah — The Park City Professional Ski Patrol Association stopped working Friday following a long negotiation to increase their wages and working conditions. The union previously voiced their disappointment with the offers issued by Vail Resorts.
The union posted on its Facebook page, "This morning, at 7:30 am, our membership hung up their jackets and walked out of the locker room and formed a picket line in solidarity to amplify our fight for better wages and working conditions."
"We are fighting to compensate our patrollers for the skills, the education, the experience that they bring to this mountain," said Park City Professional Ski Patrol Association Business Manager Margaux Klingensmith. "We're just trying to keep up with the rate of inflation from two years ago, so we are asking for a base rate increase from $21 an hour to $23 an hour."
In November the union held demonstrations threatening a full strike if their demands weren't met. Last month they stated that the resort's counter-offer included less than a .5% raise and removed foundational elements from the current contract.
"Right now we have patrollers who have been around for fifteen to twenty years, making the same or less than patrollers who have been here for three to five years," said Klingensmith.
According to the union, the resort met with them for 7 hours on Thursday for a negotiation session. During the meeting, the company refused to give a counteroffer on wages or benefits. The union also stated that Vail Resorts brought in employees from other resorts to work during work stoppages.
According to Park City Mountain Vice President and Chief Operating Officer Deirdra Walsh, both parties agreed to mediate for a full day on Friday.
“Now our focus needs to focus on business continuity due to the actions of the union today," said Walsh. "We are deeply disappointed that the patrol union decided to walk away in the middle of mediation. We have made progress on 24 of the 27 articles, so we're really proud of the way that we have negotiated in good faith. We are committed to that."
Vail Resorts sent FOX 13 News the following statement about the strike:
"We are deeply disappointed the patrol union has walked out of mediation and chosen drastic action that attempts to disrupt mountain operations in the middle of the holiday season, given we invested significantly in patrol with their wages increasing more than 50% over the past four seasons, and we have reached agreements on 24 of the 27 current contract terms. We want to reassure skiers and snowboarders, our employees, and this community that despite the union’s actions, Park City Mountain will remain open with safety as our top priority, and all planned terrain will be open thanks to experienced patrol leaders from Park City Mountain and our other mountain resorts. In addition to the over 50% increase in wages over the past four seasons, the current Park City Mountain patrol proposal increases wages another 4% for the majority of patrollers and provides $1,600 per patroller for equipment. Again, we are surprised by the union’s action given we had planned for a full day of productive mediation today before they walked out. Unfortunately, that will not go forward as planned, as our negotiating team must now shift focus today to operational continuity. We remain committed to reaching an agreement.”
