Snowstorm brings crowds to Park City resort where seasonal employees are on strike
Dec 29, 2024, 3:19 PM | Updated: Dec 30, 2024, 5:57 am
PARK CITY – The weekend snowstorm brought a lot of powder to the slopes, but that might not be as exciting for skiers at Park City’s Vail Resort.
After hearing about picket lines affecting long lines on the mountain, as well as claimed excessive injury response times, KSL TV caught up with workers on strike and ski pass holders Sunday afternoon to hear more.
Coming off the mountain, pass holder and part-time resident Seth Schwartz said most of the park is closed due to inability to sustain operations.
“My experience out on the mountain wasn’t nearly as good as it should’ve been,” he said, adding that the lifts that are open are overcrowded.
“You have unhappy guests,” he said. “You have a lot of unhappy people paying a lot of money in order to come here, and those people aren’t getting the experience they’re paying for because it’s not properly staffed.”
Though she hasn’t been up to the mountain herself, PC Ski Patrol Executive Board Member Quinn Graves said many guests have voiced their complaints about the situation.
“It looks like lift lines are exorbitantly long and injury response times are long,” Graves said. “There’s only about 7% of our terrain open.”
However, seasonal ski workers on strike against Park City’s Vail Resort claim the company won’t budge in their negotiations. Instead, they have hired outside workers to make up for the gap.
“A lot of the folks who are scabs have been told by Vail to come in from other resorts,” Graves said. “A lot of people who are scabbing right now are managers and supervisors not associated with a union.”
Graves said contract negotiations have been a difficult road to navigate, with questionable ethics coming from the side of the employer.
Workers are asking for a salary increase from $21 to $23 per hour, contract changes and wages that keep up with inflation. They have been picketing since May 2024.
In the meantime, park pass holders like Schwartz said they are experiencing a less-than-optimal ski season as a result.
KSL TV reached out to Park City Mountain and did not receive comment at the original time of publication.
After original reporting, Emily McDonald, the communications manager with Park City Mountain, provided this statement Sunday:
With lots of new snowfall over the past week, we are pleased to add 100 acres of additional terrain on Saturday and opened Mid-Mountain Lodge for the season. Early season conditions still exist, and lift and terrain openings are within the typical range for the weather we have seen to date.
