Aspen ski patrollers’ union supports Park City strike

Aspen ski patrollers came out in support of the Park City patrollers’ union Unfair Labor Practices strike, which entered its seventh day on Friday. 

The Aspen Professional Ski Patrol Association (APSPA) wrote an op-ed supporting the strike in The Aspen Times on Monday.

“We stand in solidarity with the Park City Professional Ski Patrol Association (PCPSPA) and their recent strike against Vail Resorts’ unfair labor practices,” wrote the union board. 

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APSPA Union President Luke DeMuth said they support the strike as Park City’s parent company, Vail Resorts, has refused to discuss increased pay and benefits for patrollers. 

“They’re not even willing to discuss liveable wages for ski patrollers and tenured staff,” DeMuth said. 

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As the Aspen patroller’s union approaches its contract renegotiations with the Aspen Skiing Company this April, he said they look to keep an amicable relationship. The contract renegotiation takes place between the patrollers union and SkiCo representatives every two years. Historically the union, founded in 1986, has succeeded in negotiating fair and reasonable contracts with SkiCo, he said.

“Neither APSPA nor SkiCo want to get into a situation like Park City,” he said. 

Though DeMuth said he couldn’t reveal specifics, he told The Aspen Times in December that they seek to increase patroller base pay, benefits, and equipment allowance. 

Aspen Skiing Company CEO Geoff Buchheister told The Aspen Times in a statement that they expect to continue a collaborative relationship with the APSPA union in negotiations this spring.

“We have had a long, productive relationship with our patrol union since 1986. Over ~40 years we have partnered together successfully through ~20 contract negotiations,” he wrote in an email.

“Across our four mountains, our patrols have continually performed at the highest level, are critical to our collective safety, and our entire community appreciates the professionalism and expertise they bring to the job and to our guests,” he added. “Across Aspen One, we realize our employees are the lifeblood and magic of our organization. That is why we lead the industry in pay and benefits and will continue to do so.”

Alternatively, Vail Resorts failed for months to enter negotiations with the Park City patrollers’ union to renegotiate pay and benefits, said Quinn Graves, business manager for the Park City union. The Park City patrollers’ union began an unfair labor practices strike on Dec. 27.

Problems started last spring when the union tried to renegotiate with Vail Resorts after their contract expired in April, Graves said. After coming to various agreements with Vail Resorts, the union proposed an economic and benefits package in September. 

“We did not hear anything back from the company until almost the end of November, when the resort opened,” she said. “And they gave us a pretty terrible counter offer.”

In the following weeks, she said they made little progress coming to an agreement with the company. 

On Dec. 12, the union decided to rally outside of the negotiation room to advocate for a fair contract, Graves said. 

“The company did not love that,” she said. 

The following day, the union came to an agreement to strike after passing a unanimous vote among almost all of its 200 represented members, she said. 

They authorized the strike on the grounds of unfair labor practices under the National Labor Relations Act, which included the company’s unwillingness to furnish information or present information about operations and metrics, she said. The company’s postponement of negotiations also constituted an unfair labor practice, she said. 

Once in motion, the union filed notice of additional unfair labor practices, including intimidation against striking employees and retaliation against striking employees, Graves said. 

Immediately prior to the strike, she said company management was told to call employees they thought might cross the picket line before the union initiated the strike, which is seen as intimidation according to the National Labor Relations Act. Once the strike began, the Vail Resorts’ lawyers sent an email to the union, threatening their employee benefits.

The company turned off the striking employees’ passes as well as their dependents’ passes, prohibiting access to ski school for patroller’s children, Graves said. 

“They have threatened to take away our health insurance if this strike is to last for more than two pay periods,” she said. 

They have also threatened to evict people from employee housing and to bar patrollers from taking their children to the company’s day care, she said. 

Bill Rock, president of Vail Resorts’ Mountain Division, was quoted in a Park City media statement Friday. 

“While we had sincerely hoped the union would not take this drastic and unnecessary action during the holidays, we have plans in place to continue to safely operate Park City Mountain for our guests, employees, and the community,” Rock said. 

“We deeply regret that this is having any level of impact on the guest experience and are grateful to our thousands of employees who are working hard every day to enable the experience at Park City Mountain and open the terrain that we can safely open,” he added. 

In all of the negotiations, Graves said they are asking for basic steps forward.

The union wants a minimum wage raise for patrollers from $21 to $23 and wants their seasonal employees to qualify for paid parental leave. As it stands, many patrollers don’t work enough annual hours to qualify, she said. And they want to decompress the patroller pay scale. Some patrollers who have 20 years of experience make the same as those who have five, she said. 

“People should be compensated for their time and expertise,” she said.

Vail Resorts CEO Kirsten Lynch made $6.3 million in total compensation last year according to Salary.com.

“We think some of that money can be redistributed to the people with boots on the ground, working,” Graves said.

Skyler Stark-Ragsdale can be reached at 970-429-9152 or email him at sstark-ragsdale@aspentimes.com.