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AP Article on Ski Industry's Labor Issues

Smellytele

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Most ski areas have used foreign workers for years. Work visas are harder to come by now for these jobs.


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FBGM

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You can thank Trump for that!

Exactly. Trump ruined Visa program even though that cock sucker uses them at his shit hole resorts.

Ski areas pay like shit and always have. They got away with it before when they could. Free passes were a bonus. They are now not because they are so cheap. Even starting wage at $15/hr doesn’t get you anywhere in a ski town (out west) east coast is cheap to live everyone is on drugs and housing is cheap.

Get employee housing. Get pay rates up above $15/hr and better employee perks and transportation. Then we will have fully staffed resorts.
 

gregnye

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Get employee housing. Get pay rates up above $15/hr and better employee perks and transportation. Then we will have fully staffed resorts.

Another issue is the fact that it's seasonal. A few years ago I was considering working for a ski area but the problem is unless you have another job lined up for the summer it's not worth it.

Got my CDL instead. Buses need to be driven all year long-->pays more too and got me on a better career path.
 

icecoast1

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Another issue is the fact that it's seasonal. A few years ago I was considering working for a ski area but the problem is unless you have another job lined up for the summer it's not worth it.

Got my CDL instead. Buses need to be driven all year long-->pays more too and got me on a better career path.

And if you do work at a ski area in the summer, they make sure you get layed off just long enough in between seasons to not have to pay you benefits. Very few people at mountains are actually true full time employees
 

abc

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This is quite an eye opener to see how little the resorts get away with not paying their workers! Free passes ONLY? Not paying??? Never mind housing assistance or housing assistance! And expect them to disappear when the snow melts? (and come back by Christmas!).

No wonder they need foreign workers!

(I'm no Trump fan. But curtailing Visa will force the mountain to pay wages compatible to other line of work! If the cost of ski bums having a living wage is higher pass price, I wonder how many people will complain about skiing being "too expensive"?)

Then we will have fully staffed resorts.
One "staff" position that are always "fully staffed" are ski instructors!

Now the quality of the "staff" is a different matter...
 

Keelhauled

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$12.75/hr at Vail to start. Doesn't matter if you're a warm body scanning tickets or running a $250k snowcat. Been there, done that, it's not enough to get me to go back, even with a marginal pay raise for returning employees.
 

FBGM

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$12.75/hr at Vail to start. Doesn't matter if you're a warm body scanning tickets or running a $250k snowcat. Been there, done that, it's not enough to get me to go back, even with a marginal pay raise for returning employees.

Vail still have a 3% raise for returning employees? Because what a joke that is. 3% on a $70k salary is fine but 3% on your $13 bucks can go kick rocks
 

BenedictGomez

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The same people ranting about pay being too low are also ranting about foreign VISAs being culled.

This is why economics should be required in every school from Grade 6 through Grade 12. Most of America's problems could be solved if people understood money & had even a basic understanding of economics & finance.
 

abc

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Actually, more basic than that. Learning to "balance a check book", aka balance a budget, will go a long way to understand money.

People "want" this, want that. Then when the need to pay for it, everyone left the room!

Never mind schools never touch that subject. But even many parents are paying for everything their kids "want", so children never learn everything has a cost.
 

ss20

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A minute from the Alta exit off the I-15!
I've said for a while now we're nearing the "critical mass" point where your experience is going to start suffering because mountains can't get fully staffed. Maybe that means a lift or two less running on weekends or being unable to take full advantage of short snowmaking windows with not enough guys to turn on hydrants. I've seen (and unfortunately) been a part of long lines trying to buy lift tickets at mountains that have a whole row of POS systems but only one or two people at the desk. I remember two seasons ago Killington had a spectacular late-April ski day with trees and naturals still open and the most incredible blue sky I've ever seen. They couldn't open up the Canyon quad due to staffing. I remember 10 minute waits for Superstar and Snowdon Triple lifts in the singles line.

Low pass prices and low unemployment is a dangerous combination. It's multiplied by the fact that the resorts give even cheaper passes to college kids and people in their 20s (people that should be ski bumming while they're young and working in the industry). What's the point of working at the resort for the free pass when it's only worth $300..$400 bucks? You can wash dishes in-town and make a dollar or two more than minimum wage and ski all day.
 

BenedictGomez

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What's the point of working at the resort for the free pass when it's only worth $300..$400 bucks?

Great point.

When I worked at Stowe I only worked Saturdays, and for minimum wage, but I didn't care about the money because I got a season pass that cost (I believe) $1,200 at the time, which in today's money would be about $1,800. When I was in my early 20's I didn't have that kind of money. So Stowe got an all-day customer-facing employee for all their busiest days of the ski season, and I got to ski the best mountain in the east for "free".

It was a fair deal.

Were I that same 20-something today? Yeah, I'd just buy an EPIC pass.
 

Whitey

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The same people ranting about pay being too low are also ranting about foreign VISAs being culled.

Thank you BG. I was going to say the same thing. I was going to be snarkier about it because this site's #1 troll was the author of one of those poorly thought out posts. But you did it more politely.

The fundamental problem is that by definition ski areas are in remote areas far from any population density. I think this problem has been exacerbated by the trends in the ski industry over the last 20-30 years. Skiing used to be more of a "go ski, get a shitty cheeseburger at the lodge, and then go home or back to the condo". Pretty simple. Now you need to have hotels, restaraunts, an ice skating rink, a tubing park, a pool(s), somewhere to shop, snow mobile tours, shuttle drivers, real estate ops, etc, etc. Don't get me wrong, a lot of the "new" amenities are nice and contribute to the experience. My point is that it takes a lot more ppl to staff all of the add'l stuff and when you are already far from any population density - that's not going to make staffing your operation any easier. Plus, when you are hiring and you say "you can work inside the lodge at the panini making station or you could work on the mountain moving snow guns around for 8 hrs a day", most will pick panini making in the climate controlled environment.
 

EPB

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I was going to be snarkier about it because this site's #1 troll was the author of one of those poorly thought out posts. But you did it more politely.

The fundamental problem is that by definition ski areas are in remote areas far from any population density.

You may as well just reply to said troll with barely coherent ad hominem - that way, he'll be sure to get it...

The problem you refer to here is temporary. We haven't seen a recession in over 10 years and the economy is humming at (at least) full speed. When tourism eventually slows, many of these indoor jobs will go away. A critical mass of people without the luxury of choosing to work inside will return. Customer service seems to be suffering in suburban restaurants, too. I agree that remoteness can create additional difficulties, though.

On a separate note, few skiing-related topics crack me up more than complaints about resorts not paying their ski bums enough. Being able to afford to live in a town like Vail loading gondolas should seem too good to be true - because it is. While I have some sympathy for the long-tenured residents that get priced out of Vail-type areas, I will never understand feeling bad for 20-somethings that never understood that they can't afford to spend years on end vacationing in the mountains. The labor and real estate markets are way too efficient for a free lunch like that.
 

BenedictGomez

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On a separate note, few skiing-related topics crack me up more than complaints about resorts not paying their ski bums enough. Being able to afford to live in a town like Vail loading gondolas should seem too good to be true - because it is. While I have some sympathy for the long-tenured residents that get priced out of Vail-type areas, I will never understand feeling bad for 20-somethings that never understood that they can't afford to spend years on end vacationing in the mountains. .

It's an essay in entitlement-mentality.

Noticed this this morning though, they're going to build a college dorm style housing place in Park City to sleep about 1,200 workers. Someone should set an over/under on how many years it takes for that new construction to be completely destroyed. An annual over/under on Park City PD visits would be fun too.

https://www.parkrecord.com/news/sum...77ifHYFxk9x2Cb6_5v3NrOyZi3gcC_vvdSuaLwQQEMcjA
 
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