The Crested Butte News Serving the Gunnison Valley since 1999
“We’ve been in negotiations since January”
By Kendra Walker
Although the lift maintenance crew at Crested Butte Mountain Resort (CBMR) unionized to form the Crested Butte Lift Maintenance Professional Union back in 2023, they still have yet to have a finalized contract with CBMR owner, Vail Resort. According to the union’s president Thomas Pearman, negotiations have been slow going and they have been waiting for a response on their wage proposal since January.
“We have been in negotiations with Vail since January and we feel like the pace is really dragging on,” said Pearman. “We have not had a contract since the union formed. We are at the point where we need a response on wages to continue negotiations.”
Some of the main reasons for forming the union were to address fair wages and safety issues for the lift mechanics and electricians. Pearman said that the union and Vail were in agreement on the majority of the contract, but the big hangup was wages. “We gave them our wages proposal back in March and they haven’t given us a response yet,” he said. “It’s been over eight months. We’ve been waiting for a long time.”
Pearman said the union and Vail were scheduled to have a bargaining session earlier this week, but the company postponed because they didn’t have a response for wages ready yet.
Pearman explained that this puts the department in a difficult situation. “Most people haven’t gotten a raise in two years. We’ve been working this entire time, but morale is low,” he said. “We have faith in the process and eventually it’s going to work out, but in the meantime it’s a little disheartening.”
The current minimum wage at Vail Resorts is $20 an hour. “In the past there was a difference between skilled labor and the minimum wage, and that wage compression has hit us pretty hard,” said Pearman.
Pearson said there are currently about 10 people in the lift maintenance department. Three people have left over the past year, and another is leaving in the next week, though Pearson said he can’t be sure of their reasons for leaving. However, he noted that another key reason for forming the union was to correct the high turnover and lack of support for professional development.
“Retention is a big thing we were focused on in trying to get the union was that we want this to be a career to have people stay at the resort and keep experience here,” he said.
The Crested Butte Lift Maintenance Professional Union has five representatives on their bargaining committee, including Pearman, their vice president Robert Alexander and their secretary/treasurer Austin McCown. Pearman said that Vail had three representatives, which has now become two with former CBMR vice president and general manager Tara Schoedinger leaving. Pearson also said that the Vail lawyer originally involved throughout the negotiations left and there is a new lawyer. Given the turnover, “We are going to be dealing with almost a completely different group of people on the company’s side,” he said.
The Crested Butte News reached out to CBMR communications manager Katie Lyons for comment, who shared, “We have so much respect for our lift maintenance team and for all that they do for the resort. We are making progress in our negotiations with the union and are pleased that we have tentative agreements on eleven articles. Because this is a first-time contract with a new unionized group, there are more topics to discuss and work through as we build the contract from scratch. New contracts simply take more time, and it’s important to be thorough and thoughtful. We remain committed to reaching an agreement with the union and are confident we will continue to make progress.”
Pearson stressed that despite the union’s frustrations, he wants the community to know that their priority is to have the lifts running and safe and do everything to ensure a good winter. “Ultimately our goal is to have a good season of keeping these lifts spinning. But going into the season without a contract puts us in a really difficult position with limited options.”
