Photo: 9News//Screenshot
The Telluride Ski Resort announced a partial reopening over the weekend as it enters week two of a strike by the Telluride Professional Ski Patrol Association (TPSPA). The plan for a limited opening on Monday accompanied a statement by the resort saying it had revised the final offer it had made to the union before ski patrollers voted to approve a work stoppage. Job postings for temporary ski patrollers had been online since before the work stoppage, and the resort did announce before the weekend that snowmaking operations had resumed.
The resort says its latest offer includes:
-An increase in the base rate for Station Leads (formerly the supervisors) to $41 per hour, which was the union’s last request.
-A complexity pay bonus equal to $1.50 for all hours worked, including overtime hours, paid out mid-season and end of season.
-A three-year contract.
-Annual increases tied to COLA (cost-of-living adjustment) in year two and year three.
TPSPA was quick to respond publicly on Saturday and contend that “(Telluride Resort) did not bring more money to the table, they just moved it around.”
The patrol union went on to explain its stance by claiming the cost of living adjustment had been reduced from the early-December offer and placed into a new “complexity bonus.”
“Going to the press in the middle of negotiations and delivering a deceptive proposal is not negotiating in good faith. The company continues to use intimidation, bad faith bargaining and unfair labor practices instead of treating us as equals at the table,” the union said. “The company is advertising its proposal as more money, yet it appears to simply shift funds around from the previous offer — a move that feels deceptive and undermines trust at the table. Going to the press mid-negotiation feels more like an intimidation tactic than a genuine effort to inform.”
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