Park City Ski Patrol: 'United We Bargain, Divided We Beg'
The Utah-based labor union's fight for fair working conditions wages on
While you may not live or ski in Park City, ski patrollers across the nation are the lifeline of what keeps skiing safe and accessible for all of us. This week’s edition of The Chairlift focuses on Park City patroller’s tireless negotiation efforts on a new contract with Vail Resorts.
Social Media Storm
The Park City Professional Ski Patrol Association, a labor union that goes by PCPSPA, gained traction on Instagram this ski season, after announcing contract negotiations were back underway with their employer, Vail Resorts.
The goal? To create a sustainable and livable wage for career ski patrollers. While negotiations began in August of 2020, pressure mounted in late 2021 just weeks before the ski season was set to begin.
Vail Resorts is one of the largest ski corporations with a market cap of over $10 billion, ownership of 10 massive ski resorts (about 40 total), and high involvement in ski lodging and real estate development. Oh yeah, and they own the notorious Epic Pass.
$15 an Hour
That was the average wage at the time, with veteran ski patrollers not even “scratching at more than $20/hr,” according to an announcement on their Instagram. As the intensity grew and a potential union-wide strike loomed in the future, representatives on PCPSPA social media noted rumors that Vail Resorts was ready to take extreme action in response:
“We have heard rumors of the company offering increased daily pay and travel expenses to other Vail resort patrollers to come work temporarily at Park City. We hope any patroller who receives such a message understands the fight we are taking on for our co-workers, families, and patrollers everywhere.”
Unstable employer relations were stark in contrast to community sentiment, with a union action fundraiser garnering more than $100,000 in solidarity, which flexed the strength and value of the association in Park City.
Vail’s Response
Vail Resorts released a statement on Nov. 26, 2021, to a small local news outlet, TownLift, discussing details of the proposed contract. Included was this:
“We are continuing to bargain in good faith with our ski patrol’s union. Our recent discussions have been productive and we feel we’re close to coming to an agreement.”
Read the full statement here: Park City Mountain ski patrollers enter season without a contract
Over the next few weeks, Vail Resorts passed the same contract back to the union three times, brick-walling any progress. The union’s response? A unanimous rejection.
The Chairlift reached out to Vail Resorts multiple times for a comment regarding the matter and is yet to receive a response.
The 50th Meeting
According to @pcpspa social media (see above image), on Jan. 10, 2022, 98% of the union voted to authorize a strike, but no strike was ever held. That night, negotiations lasted 15 hours and ultimately ended in patrollers ratifying a new contract a few days later.
The new contract secured an average wage of more than $19/hr, wage incentives, tenure recognition, and parity with the other Vail-owned CO resorts.
The contract signifies a turn in the right direction for patrollers, but it’s still far from perfect. The union did not make the vote count public, nor did the union express full satisfaction with the results. It’s difficult to say if the association made meaningful progress in relation to the effort and value that Park City patrollers brought, and still bring, to the table.
SnowsBrains Interview - Patrick Murphy
This week, The Chairlift tried to get ahold of Patrick Murphy, a five-year ski patroller, and the business manager at Park City Ski Patrol. While we couldn’t get in touch with Murphy, Miles Clark from the SnowBrains Podcast had us covered. Click here to listen to their hour-long conversation, or keep reading for the digested version.
“No matter how modest our asks,” Murphy said in the interview, Vail Resorts wouldn’t budge on negotiations.
My take: Progress seemed to be stonewalled largely in part because the result of Park City’s negotiations would indirectly extend to all other patrol associations in contract with Vail.
Murphy said: “I won’t say it was a perfect contract… we’re just going to continue to work on building solidarity amongst ourselves.”
My take: Even the strongest unions face internal difficulties, and it’s hard to imagine complete agreement among members on the final decision.
It can be particularly challenging when the union has a representative from their parent association, Murphy said, adding they “don’t have any lawyers sitting at the table with us.” Without an attorney, he said, “it’s a bunch of pro ski patrollers sitting at the bargaining table representing our ski patrol.”
Miles Clark put it best when he characterized the union as the “heart and soul,” vs. Vail, the “hardened, experienced, and high-money lawyers.”
The future of Park City Ski Patrol remains unknown, but Murphy feels confident in their unity as a group, according to what he expressed in his interview.
“We still have a lot of work to do,” he said, adding, “We still have a lot of improvements we can make, this certainly isn't perfect, and the reality is we’ll never get a perfect contract, but hopefully we can continue to get things that are closer and closer to perfect.”
PCPSPA’s next negotiations with Vail Resorts are set to take place in 2024, alongside Breckenridge Ski Patrol and more. For now, patrollers are back to work, finalizing plans for the money raised in solidarity, and continuing to protect the Park City ski community.
Après News
🐶 Support a PCPSPA event
Come support the Park City Patroller-hosted event, The BowWow, for Wasatch Backcountry Rescue, supporting avalanche rescue, response, and education.
😡 Have a strong disdain for Vail Resorts?
It’s become a fad among the ski community to hate and trash Vail Resorts. Instagram accounts like @fuck_vail or @epicliftlines have gained thousands of followers, with @epicliftlines boasting a passionate 47,000 of them.
Want to join in on the fun? You can voice your own opinion on Vail Resorts’ Instagram, or just enjoy the comment section while you’re there. #epicfail
🚡 The ultimate chairlift-er
Check out the so-called “Chairlift Savant” who rode every single lift in the U.S. → The Colorado Sun
🌬 Local mountains sticking together
Arapahoe Basin announces the 2022-2023 full-season pass includes three days at the legendary Cold Smoke.
This week’s edition of The Chairlift is brought to you by Chris Hampson from Colorado College. If you have any questions feel free to email me: c_hampson [at] coloradocollege [dot] edu. Thanks for reading and see you next week.