The Park City Professional Ski Patrol Association (PCPSPA), a part of the United Professional Ski Patrols of America, hosted a practice picket demonstration during Park City Mountain’s opening weekend as the season kicks off without a contract between patrollers and Vail Resorts.
The demonstration comes after Vail Resorts offered a response to the union’s initial wage proposal, which PCPSPA called “extremely disappointing.” As a result, a week before opening the group organized a collective action walking into a general meeting as a group.
The Park City ski patrollers have been working on the mountain without a contract since mid-October, conducting medical, new patroller, lift evacuation, and Mountain safety trainings. Without a contract the patrollers could be replaced with non-unionized employees, but the group has stated that they remain committed to being the best and most professional patrol they can be.
According to Fox 13 Salt Lake City, Vail’s response included a less than 0.5% raise in addition to removing foundational elements of the current contract. The Union and Vail Resort have reportedly had 20 bargaining sessions since May of this year.
In a response sent to Fox 13, vice president and chief operating officer of Park City Mountain Resort Deirdra Walsh stated that Park City Mountain Resort was and continues to negotiate in good faith with the union, claiming that wages for the resort’s patrollers are “far outpacing the rate of wage inflation“.
“Our wage proposal includes additional increases consistent with how we reward all employees on an annual basis, with wages this year that would again outpace wage inflation.” – Statement from Deirdra Walsh