An avalanche of worker power finds a surprising ally
An uphill battle gets a lift
Welcome to a Monday evening edition of Progress Report.
Today marks the fourth anniversary of Donald Trump’s attempted overthrow of the US government, an unprecedented act of treason that Americans rewarded with a resounding election win that was certified by Congress this afternoon.
What’s transpired since the insurrection been one of the most pitiful and shameful chapters in American history. This moment was shaped by breathtaking dereliction of duty by federal officials, damning failure by the Democratic Party, short-sightedness by the mass media, soulless greed by corporate America, gutlessness and hypocrisy by Republicans, and carelessness by voters. In a way, it’s the only project that one could consider a national initiative, with contributions from all sides.
As I’ve stressed for years now, any hope of preserving democracy going forward will ride on the Democratic Party’s willingness to become the party of working people once again. Tonight, I’m watching the DNC Labor Council’s forum with candidates for party chairperson, where they will be asked how they intend on steering Democrats’ back toward that mission. I submitted a question and plan on sending along videos in another issue of the newsletter either later tonight or tomorrow.
On that note, tonight we’re talking about a very important labor fight that’s happening in Utah of all places, but has much larger national implications.
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An ongoing strike by ski patrol workers has triggered an avalanche of criticism for the monopoly that operates the nation’s largest mountain resort.
The Park City Professional Ski Patrol Association has been on strike since December 27th over a lack of progress in contract negotiations with Vail Resorts, which owns the iconic Utah ski complex.
With more than 200 ski patrol and safety staffers on the picket line instead of the mountain, Vail has been forced to shutter a vast majority of its trails during its busiest time of year. The upshot has been enormous lines, delayed help for injured skiers, and outrage from wealthy patrons and TV hosts.
“Vail Mountain, which owns Park City, didn’t let any of us know there was a ski patrol strike going on. So less than 20% of the mountain was open at the peak holiday time,” CNBC’s Jon Lebenthal said during a live rant that aired on Friday afternoon. “If you want to run a travel and leisure company, you darn well better give the experience you're advertising. If you don't, you will get negative PR, and non-repeating customers. Exactly what you don't want."
Vail’s executives severely underestimated the how much they’d be hobbled by the strike, which launched after ten months of negotiations between the resort and union had ground to a halt. Management began summoning scab workers, largely supervisors from other resorts, to Park City in the weeks leading up to the strike, and CEO Kirsten Lynch assured skiers that there would be no interruption if the work stoppage did come to pass.
Once the patrol workers walked off the job, executives tried to pass the first few days of dysfunction as a product of a lack of snow, but the numbers didn’t bear that out.
Vail controls the economies around its 42 mountain resorts, and charges exorbitant prices to ski on its mountains, ride its lifts, eat at its restaurants, and stay in its properties. A single lift ticket for a single day now costs $328. The only way to save money on tickets is to purchase the Epic seasonal pass, which provides access to all of its mountains, but $25 burgers and enormous rental fees soon make sustained skiing out of reach anyway.
It’s no wonder that Vail Resorts made a net profit of $230 million last year.
The upshot is that Vail caters increasingly to the wealthy, jet-setting skier that can drop five figures every season — or even on a vacation. At the same time, the company is known for maximizing the number of people on its mountains and in its resorts, and because it did not make any adjustments to reduce visitor volume ahead of the strike, a clientele that demands a luxury experience and is already annoyed by huge crowds has reached new levels of dissatisfaction.
The vast majority of the anger has been directed toward the company instead of the workers, whose action has given skiers a concrete example of the company’s mistreatment of people in its thrall. The union is now picketing various entrance points and parts of the mountain in morning and afternoon shifts, with an hour crossover around lunchtime, greeting visitors and explaining what are largely modest demands given what the resort is charging people.
The picket line at Park City is a perfect opportunity for Democrats to show that they side with working people and consumers alike, taking a popular stance against a greedy corporation who everyone hates with little downside. Yet no politician has been seen on the picket line, and there’s no indication that they’re coming.
The ski patrol union and Vail opened negotiations last March and made solid progress throughout the first six months of talks, reaching tentative agreements on 24 of the 27 items addressed by the contract. But as is often the case, management hit the breaks when it came time to discuss direct financial terms, including pay and benefits.
Vail raised wages a few years ago to come closer to parity with some of its other resorts, but the Park City ski patrol members still make several dollars an hour less than many in the same positions in comparable markets. Base pay starts at $21-an-hour and caps out at just two dollars more for people with many years of experience. There are pay bumps for advanced certifications and other specialty skills, but none are significant: one of the most utilized pay escalators is an extra $1 for having an up-to-date EMT certificate.
The union made its initial economic proposal on September 20th, highlighted by a jump from $21 to $23 starting wage and an end to the pay compression that keeps employees with 15 years of service making little more far more recent hires.
It then took an outrageous 55 days for Vail to make its first counteroffer, and after several more months of sporadic haggling, they would only increase it as high as a 4% raise for a select number of employees.
Management finally agreed to a mediator in mid-December, but their acquiescence came after months of union prodding and a virtually unanimous strike vote. While the union expressed appreciation in its public statement, leadership told me that it suspected that Vail had only said yes to the intervention as a way to further delay the talks. The ski patrol’s concern all along — and the reason why the union insisted on opening talks so early — has been that Vail would try to delay a deal to the point that it wouldn’t go into effect until the next ski season.
Vail executives did not contact the union for the strike’s first two days, then finally agreed to return to mediation on the 30th. Union leaders tell me that they have made more progress during the few meetings and subsequent emails than they had in months, and they met today and have another meeting scheduled for tomorrow. Still, there’s little optimism that the company will step up to come anywhere close to their demands for now, because there’s far more than wages for 200 workers at one resort at stake.
The United Professional Ski Patrols of America, an affiliate union of the CWA, represents about 1100 members across 13 ski resorts in Colorado, Montana, Utah, and Washington State. Several are owned by Vail, and the company, which continues to expand, is desperate to avoid more unionization, to the point that it pays workers at non-union resorts more than the unionized ones. That’s a common tactic among employers trying to fight off union drives.
Vail seems to be willing to weather criticism and a drop in its stock price in order to hold off organizing. Workers also promise that they’ll hold strong until their demands are met. Whichever side can last longer may determine the economic future of skiing.
You can donate to the strike fund for the Park City Professional Ski Patrol Association here.
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Nicely and clearly explained. Thanks for the donation link at the end!
Another example of a wealthy corporation exploiting employees in order to turn vast profits into obscene profits.
And here I had to wait months before I could re-subscribe to this excellent site. Somehow, I can't feel for those wealthy vacationers complaints of having to wait too long to have fun.