Ski patrollers at Eldora Mountain Resort have officially formed a union after the owners of the ski resort withdrew a challenge to the March 2024 union election results.
“It has been such a long hard road, and we are so grateful to the folks who have put in hours of work, both patrollers and public. Thank you. We feel strongly that it will all be worth it for the future of Eldora ski patrol,” organizers for the union, Eldora Professional Ski Patrol Association, said in a post on Instagram last week.
In late March, the patrollers voted 29-3 to unionize and be represented by the Communications Workers of America, Local 7781. They are seeking changes to the overtime pay structure and health care benefits upon hiring, among other requests. Currently, they must work two seasons and 700 hours before receiving health care, they’ve said. They also want increased access to bathrooms on the mountain. Some patrollers had been trying for more than a year to form the union.
Eldora and the owner of the resort, Powdr, a Utah-based company, had challenged the election results, citing “improper conduct,” among other reasons. The company dropped the challenge in the interest of “moving forward collaboratively in support of our ski patrollers,” according to a spokesperson.
“Although we stand by the underlying merit, we are withdrawing the objections so that we can focus on what is important: our patrollers,” Brent Tregaskis, president and general manager of Eldora Mountain Resort, said in a letter to a union organizer. “We are a family at Eldora that will always support one another through the good times, tough times, and despite any differences. In that spirit, we invite the CWA to join us at the bargaining table upon Board certification of the vote.”