Ski Patrols Seek to Unionize U.S. Slopes as Wealth Gap Grows
- At Taos, billionaire Louis Bacon fends labor off for now
- Patrollers see power in a union and a union in the powder
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The snowiest peaks in the U.S. are the latest site of pitched union battles, a result of the growing corporatization of the $11 billion ski industry and a widening wealth divide between those who own resorts and those who keep them running.
Labor’s promise of better compensation and job security has proved particularly enticing to ski patrollers. They remain among the nation’s lowest-paid employees, earning less than bellhops and barbers despite being required to perform dangerous tasks such as tossing dynamite over cliffs before sunrise to head off avalanches. Meanwhile, companies like Vail Resorts Inc. and Peak Resorts Inc. are seeing ever mounting profits.