The current agreement was signed after a 13-day strike in 2024. Photo: Park City Professional Ski Patrol Association // Facebook
Park City Mountain’s ski patrol union has filed for arbitration against Vail Resorts. The union alleges the company violated the terms of its collective bargaining agreement by not providing union members time off for recovery.
“Vail Resorts has refused to grant these unionized patrols a benefit that has been rolled out to all non-unionized Vail Patrols,” wrote the Park City Professional Ski Patrol Association in a social media post. “This benefit – called Recovery Time Off (RTO) – would allow these union members to take paid time off for mental health, vacation or physical rehab reasons. Filing for arbitration comes after numerous meetings with management and on the heels of the company publicly claiming to invest time and money in fostering a better working relationship. We are disappointed that Vail Resorts does not view PCPSPA, CBPSPA, and KSPU as worthy of valuable time off.”
As the Salt Lake Tribune reported, a Vail spokesperson responded with a statement that the company offered to reopen contract negotiations to add an amendment for recovery time, but the PCPSPA declined. “When the union is seeking new terms, that requires a negotiation and an amendment to their agreement,” they said.
However, the union says that the offer for negotiation came with a multiyear contract extension, which would weaken their bargaining power for future negotiations. Furthermore, they assert that the existing contract has a parity clause, which guarantees union workers the same rights afforded to nonunion ones – and thus should guarantee the time off.
“It is deeply disappointing to our unit that Vail is asking us to beg for a benefit that they are not only freely giving to other non-unionized patrols but a benefit that we have already negotiated for,” said the union.
The current agreement was struck in January 2025 after months of contentious negotiation finally ended in a 13-day strike.
