A union is a formal, legally recognized Bargaining Unit that is made up of and represents a collective of workers. The main difference between workers forming an official union and those same workers creating an informal group is in communication with management.

Unions have a legal right to collective bargaining, which is the right of a union to negotiate conditions of their employment with their employer. Under federal law, employers are required to enter good faith negotiations with their employee’s union. The union leadership (members of the union voted on by the union body) represents the union during these negotiations. A union truly gives workers a seat at the table. 

The UPSPA is local chapter 7781 of the Communication Workers of America (CWA), which covers over 600,000 Americans across many industries, including most health care unions. 

Local 7781 (the UPSPA) represents ski patrollers at Big Sky, Breckenridge, Crested Butte, Keystone, Loveland, Park City, Purgatory, Steamboat Springs, Stevens Pass, Solitude, Telluride, and Whitefish, as well as lift maintenance crews at Park City and Crested Butte. They have know-how for the specifics of processes that are largely unfamiliar to most, as well as a wealth of resources and relationships with legal teams. For Eldora, they have a Denver area lawyer on retainer to aid us throughout our efforts.

An initial petition to hold a union election was filed in October 2023, and the election itself was held on March 28th and 30th. This process was delayed significantly by Powdr’s legal efforts to include volunteer patrollers as part of the union.

The Eldora patrollers behind this union believe several things to be true: 

• The compensation and benefits structure offered by Powdr for Eldora’s Ski Patrol is not sufficient to support patrollers building a sustainable career at Eldora, nor does it adequately account for cost of living increases or year-over-year inflation increases.

• The extreme attrition experienced by the Eldora ski patrol, particularly of 3-5 year experienced patrollers, puts Eldora patrollers and guests of the mountain at risk. 

• The standard of work represented by decaying and insufficient infrastructure at Eldora is unprofessional and creates hazardous conditions for patrollers and guests. 

• Eldora ski patrollers have brought the above concerns to ski patrol management and mountain management through formal and informal channels for decades with little to no sustained action or investment from corporate leadership in resolving the concerns. 

Organizing a union is a significant labor of love for this team and our mountain, and the primary reason for seeking its formation is to make the lives of ski patrollers better today and into the future. 

You can read our entire mission statement document here.

Eldora Professional Ski Patrol Union won its election administered by the NLRB by a margin of 29-3. This is a tally of only votes cast by professional patrollers, of whom there are 36 who had the opportunity to vote.

The total number of patrollers eligible to vote in the election was 65, due to the NLRB ruling in March that Eldora’s 29 volunteer patrollers shared an overwhelming community of interest with the professional team.

An appeal filed by the union to this decision is currently underway, and as a result the union challenged the 12 vote cast by volunteers during the election. This means that volunteers were allowed to vote, but they are being held in sealed envelopes which will be counted in order to revise the final vote total in the event that the union loses its appeal. These votes would have been counted on the election date if there were more than the margin of victory, but the 12 volunteer votes could not have swung a 26-vote win for the union.

Eldora has challenged the results of the election, which you can find here.

After challenges and appeals have been decided, every eligible patroller will have the opportunity to fill out a union membership card, thereby joining the union.

Anyone who decides not to join the union will not be required to, nor will they pay union dues. Colorado’s Labor Peace Act grants all employees the opportunity to refrain from participation in any union activities (8-3-106. Rights of Employees.).

Patrollers will never be pressured into joining a union against their desire. This being said, any contract stipulations, incentives, and benefits negotiated between the Eldora Professional Ski Patrol Association and Eldora/Powdr management will still apply to them. The union also must still represent all patrollers in grievance and arbitration.

Dues are 1.3%  of base wages, meaning that they don’t apply to any incentive or overtime pay.

The CWA is transparent with its finances. You can view a breakdown of how dues are distributed here.

The CWA, of which the UPSPA is a local chapter, is transparent with its finances. You can view a breakdown of how dues are distributed here.

Union organizers who have advised patrollers in organizing have called Eldora’s response to this effort one of the harshest anti-union efforts in the history of the ski industry.

Certain members of management have engaged in intimidation tactics toward union supporters, particularly by cornering patrollers with pro-union stickers or pins and commenting on feeling disappointed, betrayed, or surprised by the individual.

Several members of the Organizing Committee are having their rehire status withheld - a significant departure from standard practice that threatens careers and livelihoods on an illegal basis.

There are myriad issues we hope to address, but these are the pillars of our effort:

Compensation
Overtime threshold of 40 hours/week versus the current 56 hours/week. This is allowed to happen due to Rule 2.4.3 of the Colorado Overtime Minimum Pay Standards #39, which provides an exemption to federal overtime regulations. Notably, many resorts including Copper Mountain - owned by Powdr as well - choose to pay overtime at 40 hours/week regardless.

Address wage compression by increasing incentives for experience and skill set; patrollers elsewhere have been successful in raising the ceiling for patrol pay from $26 to over $32 per hour. Patrollers struggle to see meaningful wage increases after their third year of work as things stand.

Immediate access to healthcare coverage for all full-time patrollers, versus a required three years of full-time employment as is required today.

Competitive compensation for advanced medical qualifications, such as Paramedics, in order to recruit and maintain adequate Advanced Life Support coverage for the mountain.

Facilities Upgrades
Eldora Ski Patrol’s Patrol Headquarters (PHQ) is two shipping containers welded together, with a shoddy heating system and no bathroom facilities. The team outgrew this space years ago, yet Eldora management has prioritized a multi-million dollar parking expansion among other infrastructure initiatives over taking care of its patrol team.

The First Aid Room is similarly unfit for the volume of visitors and size of the patrol of today’s Eldora, which sees visitors in excess of 7,000 per day on peak times as a result of increased parking and unlimited IKON Pass access. These upgrades have been promised on several occasions, but have always been reneged.

Formal Disciplinary Process
On multiple occasions this season, patrollers have been disciplined for reasons Eldora management claims were “taken out of their hands”. Corporate executives at Powdr should not be allowed to affect decisions which affect patrollers’ careers solely because they see an opportunity to get rid of a union supporter. As a unionized team, everyone will have the support of experience and legal resources in advocating for themselves and their rights. Our team members are more than data points on a spreadsheet at Powdr HQ in Park City, and they deserve respect in the workplace.