Latest news with #KeystoneSkiPatrolUnion
Yahoo
24-02-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Colorado Ski Patrollers Ratify First Contract With Vail Resorts
Following several months of contract negotiations, the Keystone Ski Patrol Union (KSPU) has reached an agreement with Vail Resorts. The patrollers tentatively announced an agreement with Vail Resorts on February 17th, 2025. As of February 24th, 2025, the unit's first union contract has been officially ratified. Following their unionization, the patrol unit had been in contract negotiations with Vail Resorts since September of 2024. The months that followed were eventful as KSPU filed an unfair labor practice suit and performed a walk-in to keep up with the best stories and photos in skiing? Subscribe to the new Powder To The People newsletter for weekly is one of several unionized patrol units and lift maintenance teams that have undergone negotiations with Vail Resorts this new contract, which represents 81 employees, includes items that offer incentives for and encourage career growth within the ski patrol the contract offers increased compensation for patrollers who hold paramedic, nursing, and EMT certifications and other specialized skills like language interpreters, sawyers, and chairlift evacuations. The contract also includes career growth opportunities like training for higher medical certifications, advanced avalanche certifications, and other specialized courses. It also includes a wage compression adjustment, which was a key negotiation point for other patrol units as well. A press release from KSPU announcing the contract's ratification notes that every member of Keystone Ski Patrol will receive a pay increase as a result of the new contract. Increases for those in advanced, specialist, and long-term positions will be significant. The contract is set to run through May 31, 2027. "The Union believes this contract is a huge step towards ski patrolling as a sustainable career, and better reflects the value of work the ski patrol delivers," says the press release. Items in KSPU's new contract are indicative of several issues that have been key bargaining points between not just Keystone's patrol unit but Park City Professional Ski Patrol Unit, Crested Butte Lift Maintenance, and other unionized patrol units currently in negotiations with resort parent companies. Merit-based wage increases, benefits, and education opportunities are all factors that the collective ski patrol community has identified as necessary for patrolling to be a sustainable long-term career.
Yahoo
27-01-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Keystone VP Claims Unionized Ski Patrollers Are Lying
Shannon Buhler, Vice President and General Manager of Keystone Resort, Colorado, has accused a group of unionized ski patrollers of sharing inaccurate information about ongoing contract negotiations. Earlier this ski season, Vail Resorts—the parent company of Keystone Resort—and the recently formed Keystone Ski Patrol Union (KSPU) began negotiating to determine a new contract. Similar to the patrollers at Park City Mountain Resort that garnered international attention for their strike over the New Years 2025 Holiday, The KSPU is seeking higher wages and better benefits that could make living in the expensive Summit County, Colorado—where Keystone Resort is located—more week, on Wednesday, the two parties met. Following their discussion, the KSPU shared a press release with POWDER, stating that during the negotiations, Vail Resorts 'signaled to the union that they do not want their patrollers to prioritize medical care for injured guests, and instead simply transport them off the mountain.'The KSPU also wrote that Vail Resorts 'questioned the importance of patrollers with higher medical certifications, such as nurses and paramedics who can perform advanced lifesaving procedures in the field.' The KSPU called this stance 'deeply problematic' for ski patrollers and public safety. However, in an email sent to Keystone Resort employees on Sunday, January 26, Keystone VP/GM Buhler wrote that the KPSU's description of the negotiations was false. 'I recognize that there may be different perspectives and opinions when it comes to the topic of unions, and I respect our employees' right to voice their opinion,' she wrote. 'And it is important to be sure there is no misinformation about this process.'Buhler claimed that Keystone Resort is not questioning the value of patrollers with advanced medical care skills, reducing wages for patrollers with higher medical certifications, or removing specialty team skills-based pay and individualized skills-based pay for Monday, the KSPU bargaining team sent an internal email to Keystone Resort ski patrollers, addressing Buhler's rebuttal. In the email, the KSPU bargaining team wrote that one of Buhler's points—that Keystone Resort is not reducing wages for patrollers with higher medical certifications—was somewhat true, and perhaps addressed a poorly phrased worded Instagram post the unionized patrollers published (the KSPU has since updated the Instagram post). 'We will take ownership of ways we could have communicated this better,' the KSPU email reads. 'Reducing wages is probably not the most accurate, and the sentiment we tried to convey is that the company is fighting to keep [Advanced Life Support] pay down.'Other portions of Buhler's letter, though, according to the KSPU email, contained incorrect information. In one anecdote presented in the email, the KSPU claimed that Vail Resorts' lawyer present during the negotiations profusely questioned the bargaining team about the need for Advanced Life Support treatment, like providing IVs to injured skiers and snowboarders on the Randall, a member of the KSPU bargaining team, told POWDER regarding Buhler's email, 'We believe that they are intentionally spreading this misinformation to try to divide the patrol right now.'In response to Buhler's email, the KSPU filed a charge with the National Labor Relations Board Sunday night against Vail Resorts for bargaining in bad faith, according to Resorts remains steadfast. 'We stand behind the facts shared in Shannon Buhler's letter to employees yesterday,' Sara Lococo, the Senior Communications Manager for Breckenridge Ski Resort and Keystone Resort told POWDER, via email.'When our team met with the union last week to share our proposal on wages and benefits, it was productive and positive, and we left that room feeling like we were very close to an agreement,' she to Lococo, the KSPU and Vail Resorts have another meeting scheduled for the evening of January the first to read breaking ski news with POWDER. Subscribe to our newsletter and stay connected with the latest happenings in the world of skiing. From ski resort news to profiles of the world's best skiers, we are committed to keeping you informed.
