Emil McLeod
On January 8th, the Park City Professional Ski Patrol Association (PCPSPA), which represents approximately 200 ski patrol and safety workers, ended their 12-day strike after reaching a new contract with the monopoly Vail Resorts. Vail Resorts owns Park City Mountain and 41 other ski areas across North America, Australia, and Europe, along with managing hotels under the RockResorts brand and owning the Grand Teton Lodge Company in Jackson, Wyoming. Park City Mountain is the largest ski resort in the United States, where a daily lift ticket can cost up to $299. The new contract contains a $2/hr. wage increase, raising the previous base wage from$21/hr. to $23/hr., along with a wage increase for more experienced patrollers of $7.75/hr.
The ski patrollers’ strike came in the midst of peak season for the resort monopoly. The strike shut down 251 of Park City’s trails, closing 5,023 skiable acres in the park. The trails and areas that remained opened were maintained by between 30-35 scabs who were transferred from other Vail Resort-owned slopes, a significant and dangerous decrease from the normally 100-manned slopes in Park City Mountain. Ski patrollers are crucial to the opening of trails, accident response, and preventing avalanches.
Videos posted online by Parky City visitors depicted serpentine lines at the resort leading to upwards of 6-8 hours of wait-time to access the slopes, causing visitors’ frustrations to boil over. Some visitors expressed their sympathy with the striking workers, including Sammy Carlson, one of the top free-skiers in the world. In a video posted to social media platform X, skiers waiting in line at the King Con lift at Park City Mountain could be heard chanting “Pay your employees!”
After the conclusion of the strike, a class action lawsuit was filed on behalf of all Park City guests that visited the mountain during the strike. The primary plaintiff, Christopher Bisaillon, claims that Vail Resorts did not properly disclose the impacts of the strike to guests, causing guests to spend thousands of dollars on an experience that was not delivered due to the strike. The lawsuit further claims that Park City knew about the strike as early as December 16th, when the PCPSPA began filing unfair labor practice charges against the resort monopoly, but did not inform potential guests. Vail Resorts stock has fallen 6% over the past 30 days due to the strike and the ensuing negative publicity.
Photo: PCPSPA rally, retrieved from their fundraiser.
