The strike may actually be over.
Vail Resorts and the Park City Mountain ski patrol union announced in a joint statement Tuesday night that they have reached a tentative agreement on a contract for the resort’s ski patrol and safety workers.
The contract would be valid through April 2027 if ratified, according to the statement, which was released shortly before 11 p.m.
Members of the Park City Mountain Professional Ski Patrol Association are expected to vote on the contract Wednesday. Per the statement, the union’s bargaining committee will unanimously endorse acceptance of the new contract.
“Everyone,” the joint statement said, “looks forward to restoring normal resort operations and moving forward together as one team.”
Vail Resorts and the patrollers’ union have been wrangling over contract details since March 2024, a month before the patrollers’ previous contract expired. They had come to a tentative agreement on all but three of 27 contract articles, but those final three — which mostly concerned pay and benefits — proved difficult to resolve.
The union has stated it was seeking a bump in starting wages from $21 to $23 as well as commensurate compensation for experience and expertise. Benefits requests include parental leave, holiday pay and healthcare stipends for months worked, among other asks.
Deirdra Walsh, the vice president and chief operations officer for Park City Mountain, said in a statement released on the resort’s website Monday that those total much more than $2 an hour.
“It’s never been about 2 dollars,” Walsh wrote. “There’s a lot of misinformation surrounding these negotiations. First, please know; we care deeply about the work of our ski patrol; we have invested a lot in them and will continue to. Second, they are asking for much more than $2/ hour. In fact, on the day they went on strike, their demands equaled $7/hour more.”
Kate Lips, the patroller union’s president, told KPCW that she is not sure how resort operators are calculating the $7/hour figure.
The two sides were scheduled to meet with a mediator nearly every day this week.
Buoyed by public support, the union far surpassed its Go Fund Me goal of raising $250,000 to support striking workers. On Tuesday, it raised that goal to $400,000. By the time the agreement was reached, $306,496 had been contributed to the fund.
Vail Resorts, meanwhile, received a stream of backlash in both mainstream and social media during the strike. On Tuesday, Park City Mayor Nann Worel and the city council called upon the two sides to “urgently” resolve their differences and reach an agreement.
“Park City Mountain is a cornerstone of Park City’s community well-being,” they said in a statement, “and it is Vail Resorts’ responsibility as an essential employer to resolve this conflict without further delay.”
