writing from the red chair next to the fireplace! it’s 10a and i can barely see across the road outside of our house. the high pressure spell has been broken and snow is abound.
this morning was an early one. i want to keep it simple: pc patrol walked out today and is indefinitely on an unfair labor practice strike. sara, brady, hanna, and jack all spent the night with us last night–our first house guests!–and were out the door to picket at 645 this morning. morale was high last night as each of them received the call to strike. hanna made coconut rice w/ seared shrimp and pineapple salsa & brady brought seven layer bars he’d been sent from home for christmas. it was really sweet to come home from work to a full kitchen.
i am only peripherally involved with the strike, but it is impossible not to feel strongly about this situation. i’m learning a lot about the lengths that big corporations will go to at the cost of an employee’s wellbeing and a patron’s safety. there is no justification for the steps vail has taken to draw out these contract negotiations, nor for the money they have spent in effort to combat the union. their ability to cut corners with little to no retribution is unethical and feels like it should be illegal.
my initial support for the union stemmed from the simple facts that i love a patroller, and i love to ski. i’m familiar with the knowledge and expertise required to keep the mountain safe all winter, and i’ve seen how passionate patrollers are about doing their job well. but the obligation i feel to educate myself on vail’s latest penny-pinching tactics comes from morality. their lack of action preceding this strike has resulted in an unsafe and volatile environment on the mountain during the busiest week of the year. the audacity to sink thousands of dollars in travel and lodging fees for scab patrollers (who were likely given no choice but to follow orders) rather than agree to or even counter the three outstanding contract terms is beyond me. not only are they pitting their own employees against each other, they are putting people to work who may lack proper medical or mitigation certification. this jeopardizes not only the safety of skiers on holiday, but of the management they’ve flown to utah and forced to scab.
the union has overwhelming support behind it from locals, from tourists, and from patrols across the country. we were sitting around the table last night wondering what tricks vail has up their sleeve. the COO of PCMR claims to have “great respect for [their] patrollers and the guest service they provide at the resort1,” which is misleading given the current state of the relationship between employer and employees. vail has demonstrated that they will continue to choose profit over people, a mindset that feels antithetical to the outdoor communities they have monopolized. their COO takes home six million dollars a year.
many of the counterarguments revolve around this idea that patrolling is nothing more than a fun job, that they just do it for a free ski pass, that it is not and will never be a viable career. that nobody’s forcing them to work this job, and if they want a livable wage then that’s their problem. there’s a certain disdain behind this perspective. it implies that patrollers should not be taken seriously, or that they’re easily replaceable. these takes tend come from the kind of person that looks like they wouldn’t last one day on the job.
one guy mentioned that, back in the 80s and 90s, you got paid squat for patrol and you knew that when you got into it. that, come on, you get to be on skis all day. there’s your benefit. i mulled that one over for a while. maybe that argument would hold in a world without corporate skiing. but the corporate takeover is what forces the issue, is what creates the demand for higher pay and benefits. a lift ticket to park city today costs $328. is mountain safety not a crucial part of what we’re paying for? skiing is a different ballgame than it was twenty years ago. and god forbid somebody love their job!
the union’s position is that patrollers deserve the opportunity to pursue patrolling as a career. surely not every mountain worker views it as a lifelong job, and many people phase through ski bum years before moving on to a more financially sustainable career. but the ones who stay accumulate invaluable experience in facilitating and protecting a ski mountain. most mountain employees i’ve gotten to know are eager to pay their knowledge forward and give back to the outdoor experience. seasoned patrollers facilitate a safer mountain experience, especially at a resort so populated with under-experienced riders.
just when i thought i couldn’t be more disillusioned with the company, i got a call from one of my closest friends from high school. she called to let me know she was boarding a flight to salt lake; she’d been asked to scab by vail and could be put up out here for as long as two weeks. a private car picked her up from her home and drove her two hours to the airport. a pit formed in my stomach. this felt more personal to me. i’m not sure how much say she had in the matter, if any. she was forced into a high pressure situation by an employer who is willing to throw their management under the bus to cover their own ass. i want answers. i want to understand how vail can do this with a clean conscience. managers were asked to leave their homes the weekend before christmas with the promise that this would all be over by the 25th. those people were in park city for the holiday, removed from their families and children.
i didn’t and still don’t really know how to frame this. one person i love is striking for a fair contract, and another is crossing the picket line. it’ll hopefully be old news a month from now, with the best case scenario being historic. i’m trying to focus on the big picture, the whole forest, not just the trees in front of me. if vail wins, these issues do not just go away. i’m mad at the company for forcing my friend into the decision to cross the picket line. it’s deeply upsetting to me that she is afraid for her own safety when she has been put into the position of maintaining safety on a foreign mountain. the import of scab employees feels more like a punishment on striking workers than it does an effort to keep the mountain safe.
i’m proud to support the union and i’m proud of sam’s involvement within it. i am eager for this situation to resolve, and i am confounded and fascinated by vail’s actions. but it sure feels cool to see so much solidarity and good faith in our new home town!
thank you for reading–i’ll write on or after the new year–happy holidays and fuck vail!
xxo, r
loose change 
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