As vice president of CWA Local 7765, a union which includes Utah Health Workers United and United Campus Workers of Utah, I stand in unwavering solidarity with the Park City ski patrollers (CWA local 7781) on strike against Vail Resorts. Our struggles are similar to each other in profound ways, highlighting a broader fight for dignity, fair wages, and respect in the workplace.
Just like in health care and education, ski patrol work is not just a job: it’s a calling. These workers risk life and limb to ensure the safety of others, much like health care workers who are on the frontlines of community health. Our sectors are riddled with underappreciated labor, where the value of the work done is not reflected in the compensation or respect given to the workers.
Vail Resorts provoked this strike over a $2 an hour pay raise. This should resonate deeply with every underpaid, undervalued worker in this state. Vail’s refusal to negotiate fairly with ski patrollers who brave avalanches and harsh weather is an affront to their dedication, expertise, and the legitimate aspirations for financial stability and safe work that all workers share.
Our industries suffer from the same greed. We’ve seen hospitals in Utah collude to leverage their power to suppress wages and degrade working conditions while expecting workers to save lives daily. Similarly, patrollers are often under-resourced yet expected to perform miracles on the mountains.
Vail’s refusal to budge over $2 an hour seems shocking, but our healthcare and campus workers are facing the same struggle. To address this, our campus workers have launched a living wage campaign and already accumulated over a thousand signatures. It is a shame that to get a living wage, workers need to fight — and if necessary strike — to get it. But it is also a reminder of the tremendous power organized laborers have, which employers ignore at their peril.
Our collective fight is for recognition, for wages that can provide a life for ourselves and families, and for the right to have control in our workplaces. When Vail Resorts undermines the collective bargaining rights of the ski patrol by bringing in scabs, it is a call to arms for all of us in labor-intensive, undervalued sectors.
We must stand together because when one of us wins a fight for better conditions, we all gain. The struggle of the Park City ski patrollers is our struggle; their victory would be a victory for all workers in Utah demanding a fair shake.
This movement is not going away, and no amount of stubbornness or intimidation by an employer is going to change that. The tactics of organizing from the grassroots, building deep community support, and using strategic strikes are as relevant in the hospitals and universities as they are on the slopes. We must continue to educate, agitate and organize until our workplaces reflect the respect we deserve for the critical services we provide.
Ian Decker, vice president, CWA Local 7765
