Telluride Ski Resort in Colorado to close Saturday due to labor dispute
FORT COLLINS, Colo. (AP) — Telluride, one of the best-known ski resorts in the Western United States, plans to close in the coming days due to a labor dispute between its owner and the ski patrol union.
The Telluride Professional Ski Patrol Association decided to strike Tuesday after failing to reach an agreement on pay in contract negotiations held since June. Since no further meetings are planned before the weekend, Telluride Ski Resort will not open that day, he said.
“We are concerned that any organization, especially one that exists to help people, would do something that would have such a devastating impact on our community,” owner Chuck Horning said in a statement Wednesday.
It is not yet clear whether the closure will last longer. Resort officials were working on a plan to reopen the resort even if the strike continued, according to the statement.
Patrol officers aim to earn more pay, in line with their counterparts at other resorts in the region.
The union wants starting pay to increase from $21 to $28 per hour, while wages for patrol officers with more than 30 years of experience increase from $30 to $36 per hour to $39 to $48.60 per hour.
While facility officials tried to pin blame for the impending closure on the union, interim safety director and patrolmen’s association spokesman Andy Dennis said it was Horning’s fault.
“He’s a bully. That’s what bullies do, take his toys and run away,” Dennis said. “All he has to do is give us a fair contract and that’ll be the end of it.”
Ski patrollers sometimes demand higher wages on the grounds that the cost of living in ski towns is high and that they are responsible for people’s safety. Patrol officers’ duties include responding to injured skiers and releasing controlled avalanches with explosives when no one is within range.
Even without the strike, Telluride has yet to fully break even this season. unusually hot weather This means only 20 of the resort’s 149 trails have been able to open.
Patrolmen in the Rocky Mountain area recently voted to unionize.
Last year a strike that lasted almost two weeks closed many works and long lifting lines at Park City Mountain Resort in Utah. That strike is over That’s when Colorado-based Vail Resorts agreed to the demands, including a $2-an-hour base pay increase and raises for senior ski patrollers.
