Industry News
KEYSTONE, CO—On Wednesday, January 22, the Keystone Ski Patrol Union (KSPU) bargaining team met again with Vail Resorts for contract negotiations. The day focused on the company’s first counter to the union’s wage proposal, one day after the company announced a new “mountain complexity” pay incentive for its large non-unionized patrols. The new incentive was presented in the company’s wage counter to the union, but at the expense of the current specialty team pay incentives and increases for those with higher medical certifications.
During this negotiation, Vail Resorts signaled to the union that they did not want its patrollers to prioritize medical care for injured guests and instead transport them off the mountain. Vail Resorts also questioned the importance of patrollers with higher medical certifications, such as nurses and paramedics, who can perform advanced lifesaving procedures in the field.
The KSPU bargaining team finds the company’s stance deeply problematic for ski patrollers and public safety. Last year, the Keystone Ski Patrol responded to approximately 3,000 guest incidents on-mountain, most of which were medical concerns. The Keystone Ski Patrol also prides itself on providing high-quality pre-hospital care. It received the EMS Agency of the Year award in 2022 from the Central Mountain Regional EMS and Trauma Advisory Council. In the week leading up to MLK, the Keystone Ski Patrol responded to three life-threatening emergencies and countless other high-acuity incidents, such as anaphylaxis, femur fractures, and spinal injuries.
Currently, all new ski patrollers at Keystone are required to have an EMT certification before working. Ski Patrol is often the first point of care in highly traumatic accidents, and patient outcomes can vary widely based on the type of care provided. Colorado affords EMTs one of the highest scopes of practice in the country, and the Keystone Ski Patrol regularly utilizes it to the full extent. Due to the statements made during the negotiations, the KSPU bargaining team believes the company may reduce the patrols’ ability to provide care on the mountain. As a certified EMS agency, the Keystone Ski Patrol would typically receive changes in the scope of practice from its Medical Director, which the company did not consult before making these statements. This should concern skiers and riders visiting Keystone, especially given the resort’s branding as a family mountain. One of the company’s seven core values is “be safe,” which does not align with its recent remarks.
In response to the above information, Shannon Buhler, Keystone Resort’s Vice President and General Manager, issued a memo to all employees addressing misinformation regarding its latest meeting with the patrol union. The memo, sent to SnowBrains by Vail Resorts, is below:
I am reaching out to you today to share some updates about our ongoing negotiations with the union that represents Keystone Ski Patrol. I recognize that there may be different perspectives and opinions when it comes to the topic of unions, and I respect our employees’ right to voice their opinion. And it is important to be sure there is no misinformation about this process.
Last week, we met with the union and presented our proposal on wages and benefits. This included proposals for skills-based pay, including EMT and medical certifications. It was a productive and respectful meeting. Since that meeting, the union has shared inaccurate information regarding that discussion and the skills-based pay the resort proposed. Some of our team members have asked me questions and raised concerns about what
they have read, so I want to make sure you have the facts:FACT: Keystone Resort is not questioning, nor have we ever questioned, the need or value for patrollers to have advanced medical care skills. We recognize, appreciate, and are proud of the frontline care our patrollers provide to our guests, and our proposal includes individualized skills-based pay for medical certifications.
FACT: Keystone Resort is not reducing wages for patrollers with higher medical certifications. Our latest proposal offers individualized skills-based pay for both EMT certifications and advanced EMT certifications. Employees with certifications like Advanced EMT, Paramedic, and RN will receive skills-based pay.
FACT: Keystone Resort is not removing specialty team skills-based pay and individualized skills-based pay for patrollers. This is an important element of the patrol wage structure for the company, and there has been no discussion about taking it away. And our latest skills-based pay offer actually exceeds those requested by the union for several patroller levels and positions.
FACT: We remain committed to negotiating in good faith and reaching an agreement with our patrollers at Keystone Resort. We are looking forward to our next bargaining session scheduled for Jan. 30. We have offered to meet with the union before then to discuss any feedback they have from our last meeting.
We have an enormous amount of respect for all our Keystone Resort employees, including our ski patrollers, who are an important part of our resort team and the Keystone experience. We remain committed to a respectful and productive negotiation process aligned to our values and to reaching agreement.
Our resort is made up of thousands of employees across numerous departments and it takes all of us to open this mountain and operate safely each and every day. There is no one department that alone makes this mountain safe, it takes all of us, working together as one team.
Thank you all for your teamwork and leadership and for staying focused on delivering a fun and safe experience here at Keystone.
To refute these recent statements, the KSPU bargaining team asks for written testimonies from anyone who has received care from the Keystone Ski Patrol. Responses can be made to KeystoneSkiPatrolUnion@gmail.com and may be anonymous. The union would like a brief statement on the type of injury or illness treated and the quality of the interaction with the patrol. These statements will be used directly in negotiations to assert the necessity for a medically trained patrol and a fair wage for the service they provide.
Used to work for Vail resorts and have seen this format before, they called it “Just the Facts” and used it as part of an aggressive anti-union campaign in Park City.
These Facts imply a lot but are very specifically worded to be true.
-“Our latest proposal offers individualized skills-based pay for both EMT certifications and advanced EMT certifications. Employees with certifications like Advanced EMT, Paramedic, and RN will receive skills-based pay.”
Notice the placement of the period, I read this as they are trying to remove incentives for having a medic or RN cert and those patrollers could still get other incentives just like everyone else can.
-“Keystone Resort is not removing specialty team skills-based pay and individualized skills-based pay for patrollers.”
Not removing the concept of it, just specific instances.
-“We remain committed to negotiating in good faith and reaching an agreement with our patrollers at Keystone Resort. ”
A legally required stance that we have seen proven false at Park City most recently and in how Vail deals with many of it’s unionized workers.
Here’s my own,
FACT: If Vail respected it’s employees and was negotiating in good faith with it’s unionized workers the headlines we would see would be “Company and resort workers union come to a mutually beneficial deal to start the ski season after a month of productive bargaining.”
In one month the city of Salt lake can bargain a contract that is much more complicated and covers more employees. Makes you question what the hold up here is, until you see the common denominator in all these stories, Vail Resorts.