The Telluride Ski Patrol strike continues to keep the resort closed since Saturday, December 27th. Prior to the strike’s start, the union shared their requests in comparison to Telluride Ski Resort‘s final offer, and they’ve since clarified their requests as the strike nearly reaches one week.
According to their clarification, the ski patrol was seeking a mean pay of $25.50 for a new hire. The resort, on the other hand, offered a median pay of $24.50 for new hires. Their base wage for the new hires, as reported by the union, was $23.50. Current pay for new hires is $21.50.
Today, the average basic ski patroller makes $25.40, the average advanced makes $30.13, the average specialist makes $34.59, and the average supervisor makes $38.17. The union sought a mean pay of $29 for basic, $36 for advanced, and $42.51 for specialists. The resort’s offer was $27.48 for basic, $34.02 for advanced, and $38.90 for specialists.
The ski patrol dropped their healthcare, increased gear stipend, and more requests before lowering to these numbers. Their post states that, while they had greatly reduced their requests in the three weeks prior to the strike, the ski resort remained steady, refusing to increase their offers.
“Telski has known for months that this was a possible outcome of not negotiating with intention to significantly address our wage structure. Repeating that an offer is industry leading does not make it so, and ignoring the needs of your workers does not make those needs go away.” – Telluride Ski Patrol
