{"id":38269,"date":"2022-09-23T01:25:35","date_gmt":"2022-09-23T07:25:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/purgatory-resort-bike-patrol-votes-to-unionize\/"},"modified":"2026-03-31T02:43:36","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T08:43:36","slug":"purgatory-resort-bike-patrol-votes-to-unionize","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/purgatory-resort-bike-patrol-votes-to-unionize\/","title":{"rendered":"Purgatory Resort bike patrol votes to unionize"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\"Purgatory
Purgatory Resort will close summer operations Sunday after a busy season, despite the COVID-19 pandemic.<\/span>Courtesy of Purgatory Resort<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Purgatory Resort bike patrol voted unanimously to unionize Wednesday making it the first summertime resort patrol in the United States to do so.<\/p>\n

This comes after Purgatory ski patrol began wage negotiations in August. The bike patrol team is making similar complaints, saying wages are too low and the workload is too high during the peak summer season.<\/p>\n

Communications Workers of America spokesman Ryan Dineen said summer patrol often does not receive the same resources as ski patrol.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s a lot of places where the pay is less and the hours are not as consistent,\u201d he said. \u201cSo the challenges are generally the same with some nuance.\u201d<\/p>\n

The patrollers hope to make patrolling a career rather than a seasonal position, reduce turnover and ensure they are given the support needed to safely carry out their job.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s telling that there wasn\u2019t a single vote against the union. I\u2019ve worked at union and nonunion patrols, the difference is night and day,\u201d said Purgatory Patroller Jordan Diefenderfer. \u201cUnion patrols have more experience, are more highly trained and have better retention. The patrol\u2019s experience, and thereby the public\u2019s safety, dwindles with every year working conditions stay below industry standard.\u201d<\/p>\n

Diefenderfer works in bike and ski patrol for the resort and said the patrollers who work both jobs are upset the position is not considered year-round.<\/p>\n

He said it allows Purgatory to avoid paying patrollers benefits.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re here year-round, but the ski area will not pay us as full-time, year-round employees,\u201d he said. \u201cInstead, they like to class us as seasonal\/summer and seasonal\/winter.\u201d<\/p>\n

Purgatory has been made aware of bike patrol\u2019s decision to unionize. However, no set time frame for negotiations has been established.<\/p>\n

\u201cPurgatory will continue to maintain positive working relationships with mountain patrollers,\u201d said Human Resources Director Heather Garland. \u201cWe are dedicated to treating all of our employees with dignity and respect and to listening to their ideas and priorities.\u201d<\/p>\n

The resort said it will enter any negotiations with good faith and honor any collective-bargaining agreement reached.<\/p>\n

Diefendorfer said unionizing the two patrol teams is a symptom of a larger problem involving working conditions. He said conditions are below industry standard, which results in less experience on the mountain because of poor retention rate.<\/p>\n

To many of the patrollers, bike patrol is considered a more dangerous job and because they do not receive benefits, it can deter them from working on the mountain.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think people may find it insulting that they consider the bike patrol to be a separate position as if it is somehow easier or less skilled,\u201d Diefendorfer said. \u201cBut this is the same job we are on the mountain working as medical professionals, and making it a safe place to recreate.\u201d<\/p>\n

Diefendorfer did not specify the wage of the highest paid member on the bike patrol staff but said the industry standard wage for patrollers is $18 to $20 per hour and Purgatory does not pay up to the standard. Per policy, Purgatory does not publish wages.<\/p>\n

He said bike patrol share the same certifications as an EMT and said some patrollers are even doctors.<\/p>\n

\u201cWages are causing the mountain to become less safe,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd every day we see the experience dropping, and our best people leaving because anywhere else will pay more.\u201d<\/p>\n

tbrown@durangoherald.com<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Patrollers seek year-round status for better pay, benefits and worker retention <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":34963,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[431,1605,1606,28,712,1633],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-38269","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-business-general","tag-employee","tag-employer","tag-headlines","tag-purgatory","tag-unions"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38269","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=38269"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38269\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":83976,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38269\/revisions\/83976"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/34963"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=38269"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=38269"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=38269"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=38269"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}