Eldora ski patrol brings worker power to the powder with unionization push

BOULDER COUNTY — Ski patrollers at Eldora Mountain want to join an increasingly large cohort of unionized resort workers in Colorado. 

Workers at the Boulder County resort’s patrol division, who began preparations at Eldora for this year’s ski season last week, are organizing in a push to join the United Professional Ski Patrols of America union. 

Union employees would be made up of non-supervisory members of the division, of which there are 38 eligible workers, 71% of whom signed union cards this week, indicating that they favor taking a vote on joining the UPSPA.

“We are aware that some of our Patrol team members have expressed an interest in forming a union,” Eldora said in an emailed statement to BizWest. “At Eldora, we believe that the best way to find consensus that results in positive outcomes is by having meaningful dialogue rooted in the history and culture of trust among our employees. We believe a union would not benefit our patrollers, employees, guests, or our company. Regardless, we respect—and will always continue to respect — the legal rights of workers to freely choose third-party representation, as we respect the rights of those who refrain and choose to be free from the restrictions of such activities.”

Workers hope to negotiate for “improved working circumstances” such as better pay, fewer overtime hours, expanded and improved health-care coverage, Eldora ski patroller Nick Lansing told BizWest. 

The resort said it “is committed to treating all of its employees with respect and dignity and to providing them with excellent benefits, optimum working conditions, and competitive wages. We believe that employees deserve a workplace that is built around flexibility, productivity, quality of work life, fairness, the opportunity to directly participate in decisions affecting one’s future, and the opportunity to succeed.”

Workers at Eldora, Lansing said, have been “looking around the industry at all of the great momentum unions have had within ski patrols — we would be the seventh patrol in Colorado to join this union and the eighth unionized ski patrol in Colorado.” Resorts with unionized patrol divisions include Breckenrisge, Loveland Ski Area and Steamboat Springs.  

“Where we are right now is we just filed on Monday afternoon our petition” informing the National Labor Relations Board of the intent to hold a vote on unionization, Lansing said, “and when we did that we also deliver a demand-recognition letter to management at Powdr and Eldora that gives them the opportunity to recognize us as a bargaining unit.”

The organizers received a response from management on Wednesday afternoon. Management with Eldora and its parent company, Powdr Corp.  declined to voluntarily recognize the workers’ bargaining unit, Lansing said, “which was to be expected — I don’t think in the UPSBA’s history they’ve ever had a mountain administration accept a voluntary-recognition request. They’re going to want to take their time to mount their campaign against the union efforts.”

“All of us have complete faith that our management within the patrol division has been advocating for us and for the need for a change to be able to continue to pay rent, see doctors and take care of everyday necessities in Boulder County, an increasingly tough place to make a living financially,” Lansing said. “But the years that have gone by (without improved conditions) have shown that Powdr is not willing to engage with us on those issues. We see this (unionization effort) as a way to give ourselves a collective seat at the table with Powdr.”

The next step in the organization process is for NRLB and management to schedule an election within the next month and a half or so. “We’re thinking late November or early December,” Lansing said. 

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