A MARTÍNEZ, HOST:
A strike by ski patrollers at the nation's largest ski resort has hobbled operations and disappointed customers for 12 straight days. As NPR's Kirk Siegler reports, patrollers in Park City, Utah, are asking for a $2-an-hour raise.
KIRK SIEGLER, BYLINE: Ski patrollers do everything from mountain rescues to setting off avalanche control explosives. And the Park City Mountain Resort, owned by Colorado conglomerate Vail Resorts, has more than 200 patrol and safety staff. And this strike that began December 27 is happening at one of the busiest and most important times economically for the ski industry.
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UNIDENTIFIED GROUP: (Chanting) Pay your employees (clapping). Pay your employees (clapping).
SIEGLER: Social media is awash with videos like this showing frustrated Park City customers standing in long lift lines. There weren't enough patrollers to open the best terrain when a big snowstorm blanketed the Wasatch Mountains this past weekend. Other Instagram posts show guests ducking ropes into closed zones, and ski news sites report some people injured waiting for long stretches or just evacuating themselves off ski runs.
MARGAUX KLINGENSMITH: This could have been very easily avoided.
SIEGLER: Margaux Klingensmith, a patroller for six years, is the business manager for the Park City Professional Ski Patrol Association. She says the union has been trying to negotiate with Vail for months.
KLINGENSMITH: It's been a little shocking that the company continues to be comfortable running the mountain with such little terrain open, with such a small fraction of the ski patrol and mountain safety that would normally be working there.
SIEGLER: Vail, which bought Park City in 2014, says the resort has been open and operating safely. They've been sending patrol managers and staff from other states to fill in during the strike. The company declined an interview request. But in a statement, it said Park City patrollers have gotten a 50% wage increase over the past four seasons, quote, "far outpacing inflation."
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UNIDENTIFIED GROUP: (Singing) For the union makes us strong.
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SIEGLER: But the tensions that culminated in this strike go back a long time. The union nearly walked off the job three years ago when most patrollers were making between 13 to 18 bucks an hour. They now make on average $25 an hour. But Margaux Klingensmith of the union says that's still not enough to live in one of the most expensive places in the West.
KLINGENSMITH: We're seeing folks' wages just not keep up with housing costs and grocery costs and, like, the basics that people need to pay for to be able to afford to live even remotely in the area of where their job is.
SIEGLER: The union and company say they've made some progress with a federal mediator in recent days, but the strike continues.
Kirk Siegler, NPR News.
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