Park City Mayor Pleads With Vail to End Ski Patrol Strike, ‘Resolve This Conflict’

The Park City Professional Ski Patrol Association (PCPSPA) went on strike on Dec. 27 and has yet to return to work. Now, weeks into the unfair labor practices strike, the mayor of Park City is pleading with Vail Resorts to end the strike as the resort continues to suffer from overwhelming lift lines, short staff, and disgruntled guests.

“After yet another weekend of confusion and disruption due to the unresolved labor dispute at Park City Mountain, the City Council and I urgently call on Vail Resorts to take immediate action to conclude negotiations and end the uncertainty,” Park City Mayor Naan Worell wrote in a statement.

By December, the PCPSPA had already been in negotiations with Vail Resorts for 10 months. Patrollers are asking for $23 per hour (a raise from $21), “fair” compensation for experienced and skilled senior patrollers, and improved healthcare, PTO, holiday pay, and parental leave benefits. But when Vail failed to bring a counter-proposal on its wages article mediation to the Dec. 27 negotiations, the strike began.

Lines at Park City this morning
byu/Constant_Plastic_606 inskiing

Consequently, on Saturday, Dec. 28, Park City Mountain was short over 200 mountain safety personnel and ski patrollers ahead of one of the busiest times of the ski season. In subsequent days, numerous videos were posted showing incredibly long lift lines, and angry customers made their grievances heard.

One family told Town Lift they’d spent over $10,000 on their Christmas ski vacation. They said, “Next time, we’ll go somewhere else.” Another family stated, “The frustration and anger at the Red Gondola were palpable. People were screaming at staff, asking why they weren’t notified about the disruptions.”

Vail Resorts said in a statement it is deeply disappointed by PCPSPA’s decision to strike. Park City Mountain Vice President and Chief Operating Officer Deirdra Walsh called the strike a “drastic action that attempts to disrupt mountain operations in the middle of the holiday season.”

Vail Resorts’ ‘Patrol Support Team’: Pressured to Cross Line

As the Park City strike threatened to shut down the resort completely, Vail promised its customers that operations would continue as normal.

“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,” Walsh said.

To accomplish that, the corporation brought patrollers from its other resorts to fill in for the strikers as part of what it called the “Patrol Support Team,” putting some employees in a position where they were all but forced to cross the picket line.

In a Dec. 31 letter written to Vail Resorts’ CEO, Kirsten Lynch, the Breckenridge Ski Patrol Union, Keystone Ski Patrol Union, Crested Butte Professional Ski Patrol Association, and PCPSPA made a formal, written objection to this action.

“Through the company’s tactics of pressuring, coercing, and intimidating patrollers to travel to Park City to join the Patrol Support Team, you caused irreparable harm to both your patrol labor force and patrol management across all affected resorts,” the letter reads. “These patrol leaders are faced with a no-win situation. In many cases, it’s been implied that their careers and livelihoods are at risk if they do not support the company’s demands.”

Despite the Patrol Support Team being called in from other resorts, the strike inarguably disrupted Park City’s operations. According to Park City Mountain’s live tracker, just 104 of 350 trails and 26 of 41 lifts were operating as of Tuesday, Jan. 7. Some visitors said that the lift lines over the weekend were over 2 hours long.

“There’s a difference between a run being open and the lift needed to access it being functional,” Amy Clinkenbeard, whose family was vacationing in Park City over the holidays, told Town Lift.

Vail’s Power & Responsibility to Resolve This Conflict

The Park City Ski Patrol’s unfair labor practices strike will enter its third week on Friday if nothing is done to resolve it before then. Mayor Worell said in her statement that Vail is obligated to do something.

“Park City Mountain is a cornerstone of Park City’s community well-being,” Worell wrote. “And it is Vail Resorts’ responsibility as an essential employer to resolve this conflict without further delay.”

Not only would that be in the interest of Park City, its residents, the employees who run the resort, and Vail’s customers, but it would also benefit Vail Resorts. In the last five trading days, shares of Vail Resorts have dropped more than 5%. Don Bilson, the head of event-driven research at Gordon Haskett, commented to CNBC that this strike could turn into a professional crisis for Vail Resorts CEO Kirsten Lynch.

“Vail Resorts continues to unnecessarily prolong this strike,” @pcskipatrolunion wrote in an Instagram post. “Since day 1, we have had our skis in our cars while we stand on the picket line, ready to return to work at a moment’s notice to open as much terrain as possible. If a fair contract had been offered, we wouldn’t still be on the picket line. Vail has the power to end this strike with a fair contract right now.”