The community cannot exist without the ski resort, the ski resort cannot exist without the patrollers, and the patrollers cannot exist without a living wage. Each party depends on the others to succeed. So, who has the leverage to make it all work?
The answer is simple: all three parties must participate in a tripartite agreement. In this case, it appears the community was left out of the discussions as a full partner in the resort's continued success. When the community became desperate, it applied pressure on the patrollers to settle the strike, taking the easy way out as the timeline for its survival was running out.
So how can the parties fix this situation for future mutual success? The community must become an equal partner. Patrollers must be able to afford to live in the community in order to provide their services. Therefore, it is the community’s responsibility to support their success, not pressure them into accepting a substandard agreement simply to ensure its own survival.
The community must also find ways to pressure the ski resort to act as an equal partner – one that benefits when both the community and the patrollers succeed. The community already has the tools necessary to make this work, but it must be proactively involved as an equal partner, not a reactive victim.
Vaughn Daugherty
Durango
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