Telluride owner threatens price hikes if ski resort ‘caves’ to union demands

The cost of lift tickets at Telluride will rise if the southern Colorado resort meets its ski patroller union s demand for higher wages owner Chuck Horning declared Thursday in a frank email to local businesses The union the Telluride Professional Ski Patrollers Association has been negotiating with the resort for months as it seeks to secure better pay and other benefits to bolster retention in its workforce The action follows that of similar ski patrol unions in Colorado and other states which have been arguing that their specialized skills deserve more money If the population believes we should meet the union s demands even if we believe they are unreasonable there is only one way to do it is sic to pass the entire cost to lift tickets and season pass prices the Horning s email stated He added that if Telluride were to cave in it would also affect other employees and small businesses Horning who has had a fraught relationship with the local locality also alleged ski patrol members have misrepresented their plight and distorted the nature of their employment This is not healthy negotiation it is coercion and it places the entire locality at danger he wrote Horning s communication is the latest in a series of offensive moves by the resort which is the region s largest employer as it prepares for a feasible patrollers strike something that could happen this month The contentious negotiations which overlapped Telluride s opening day on Dec have been cause for concern for area businesses But the resort s rhetoric is par for the discipline in union bargaining battles commented Colette Perold assistant professor of media studies at the University of Colorado Horning s message is a typical anti-union script claim financial scarcity try to pit different groups of workers against each other and stoke tensions between the locality and the workers Perold revealed by email It looks defensive like he thinks the company doesn t have control of the narrative From this message alone I wouldn t be surprised if there is an overwhelming feeling in Telluride that the area is on the side of the patrollers This week of patrollers voted to reject what the company called its last best and final offer declared union president Graham Hoffman Membership was unequivocally clear that s not good enough he stated Given the technical skills and training required for the job the union wants to secure close to an hour base pay for its -plus members Patrollers are paid based on skill level and experience For instance a patroller entering their second year currently receives per hour while a five- to -year patroller gets on average The union is asking that those pay grades rise to and respectively The resort s final offer however was and according to the union By comparison a local hotel has a job listing for a line cook that pays to per hour Speaking to the Mountain Village Town Council Thursday night union leadership estimated the difference between its ask and the company s offer cumulatively at roughly Earlier this week a resort spokesperson pegged the difference at less than Related Articles Remarkable Lindsey Vonn wins World Cup downhill at age to start her Olympic season Hanukkah will shred with menorahs made from skis snowboards Colorado s snow season is having an abnormally warm and dry start boding poorly for snowpack Vail Resorts announces new deal on lift ticket prices Sick of ski traffic and crowds Try these family-friendly winter events instead Telluride s avalanche danger and snowpack are complex which is why retention on the patrol force is essential the union reported It s also already one of the pricier places to ski A daily lift ticket costs anywhere from to depending on demand and the time of season a practice known as dynamic pricing A season pass costs Though the union authorized a strike in November Hoffman explained it hopes to reach a resolution without a work stoppage and that the union is still willing to continue negotiations We find this to be antagonistic to paint us to be the inflexible ones here he revealed We ve never set a hard deadline but this whole take it or leave it is coming from them not us Subscribe to our weekly newsletter The Adventurist to get outdoors news sent straight to your inbox