23:18 in Breen Ridge um for this year's United 23:22 Mountain Workers Convention. So, thank 23:24 you all for making it here. Um couple 23:27 introductory things. Uh I guess first 23:29 thing is we're calling this thing to 23:31 order. 23:34 There's coffee as you guys found. Um 23:37 when it runs out, it's gone. 23:40 Um, bathrooms and water are down the 23:43 hall. We're going to try our best to 23:44 keep this thing on timeline as we start 23:46 here at 10:15. Um, so bear with us. You 23:49 you understand how this goes. This is 23:51 something that we do once a year. So, 23:52 one day a year we got to, you know, we 23:55 we do this and I know that we get 23:56 restless legs easily. Um, definitely 24:00 there is flexibility to get up, take 24:02 take a break if we need to take recesses 24:05 or whatever. Um, just say the word and 24:07 we'll we'll figure it out. Okay. Um, 24:12 the other thing that I want to say is 24:15 let's just all like 24:19 focus on being safe here on this trip. 24:22 Like we're all a lot of folks are coming 24:24 from out of town right now and we're all 24:26 going to have a good time and that's 24:28 great and I just really want to 24:30 encourage you all to take advantage of 24:31 the public transportation options that 24:33 exist here. Uh, we can get you more 24:36 details about that. just like everyone, 24:38 please be safe. We the last thing we 24:40 want is for somebody to get hurt or get 24:41 in trouble um at this event. And uh on 24:45 that note, also please treat your 24:47 service workers like royalty. Um these 24:51 people are struggling just like 24:53 everybody else in these towns, in these 24:55 communities that we're coming from. Uh 24:57 please tip like a union member, wear 24:59 your union gear, be proud of it, and 25:02 show let's let's make a good showing in 25:04 in the community that we're in this 25:05 weekend. 25:07 Um, 25:09 we're going to jump right into it. We 25:11 have we have a program of speakers and 25:13 I'm going to go first. Um, so here's 25:15 your here's your annual State of the 25:17 Union. Uh, you can bet I'm just as 25:20 prepared as last year. 25:24 Um, for those of you that I haven't met, 25:27 uh, you know, thank you for being here. 25:29 Like, this turnout is amazing and we 25:31 continue to to just up the bar in our 25:33 engagement with with this union. Uh my 25:36 name's Max McIll. I'm I'm the local 25:37 president. This is my third year serving 25:39 in this role and my third time uh giving 25:41 you all a speech at our annual meeting. 25:43 So I'm I'm just really grateful to be 25:45 here. Um I've been a Park City ski 25:48 patroller for the last 11 years and have 25:51 been a union member for that duration of 25:52 time. I've gotten involved with that 25:54 group in various ways over the years and 25:57 it's really just been a total pleasure 26:01 to 26:02 just kind of fall in love with organized 26:04 labor and and the labor scene and to be 26:08 able to serve a community that means so 26:10 much to me in this way. Um, this has 26:14 honestly just been like one of the 26:16 greatest gifts of my life to to be able 26:18 to serve this group in this way. And uh 26:22 sometimes you don't realize what your 26:24 dreams are until later in your life. And 26:27 and I certainly feel that way about what 26:29 I'm doing here and about this movement 26:31 that that we're all a part of. Um 26:35 there's a lot of people to thank for 26:37 pulling this event together. Um I want 26:41 to first go with our guy in the back. 26:44 He'll be modest. Ryan Denine. Um, 26:50 yeah, Ryan, Ryan was the glue that 26:52 pulled this thing together completely. 26:54 And, uh, certainly we wouldn't all be 26:56 here in this space without Ryan and and 26:59 just the work that he's done for our 27:01 union. Um, I just want to give an extra 27:04 special shout out to to Mr. Denine. Um, 27:06 please show him your gratitude. I also 27:09 want to shout out uh, Loveland Ski 27:10 Patrol, Zack Newton in the back live 27:13 streaming it up. What up, Zack? 27:18 Yeah, Zack Zach is using an incredibly 27:21 small percentage of his brain power in 27:23 order to pull off this thing that I 27:25 would have no chance at. Um and and I 27:29 just want to you know give him the 27:30 utmost uh thank you and and gratitude 27:34 from all of us because uh it's rare that 27:37 we find uh techy 27:41 people in our business and we need to 27:44 hold them as tight as we can. 27:50 Um but Zach's going to be running the 27:51 AV. He's doing the live stream. Uh 27:53 members are able to watch from home. uh 27:56 we have just like leveled up this this 27:59 year's convention compared to previous 28:01 years and and a big part of that is 28:02 thanks to Zach. So, thank you, Zach. Um 28:05 I want to thank everybody who works here 28:07 locally in Summit County in in these 28:09 bargaining units for opening up their 28:11 homes, their driveways, their couches, 28:13 whatever to folks from out of town that 28:16 need a place to crash. Um, that's that's 28:19 a big ask to do for any stranger and it 28:22 just demonstrates the the implicit 28:25 camaraderie and solidarity that we feel 28:27 with each other to open up your homes to 28:28 strangers. So, thank you all. Um, I also 28:31 want to thank people who took off of 28:33 work uh made alternative plans to get 28:37 themselves here to a place that's not 28:39 super easy to get to for a lot of us, 28:41 right? this this was a long drive and 28:43 everybody that traveled uh committed 28:46 themselves to coming here and being a 28:48 part of this for the weekend and not 28:50 something else and you could have chosen 28:51 to do anything else and and I think that 28:54 deserves a great deal of gratitude and 28:56 you all deserve just like a lot of 28:59 credit from yourselves. Um be be proud 29:02 to be supporting this right now right 29:05 here. Um because this is how we get 29:08 stronger. 29:11 Our engagement and togetherness has come 29:14 a really long way and we're 29:16 geographically dispersed to say the 29:18 least. We are so used to slogging away 29:22 on Zoom and it's so impersonal for those 29:25 of us that that have that work together 29:27 in this way and we we build friendships 29:29 over Zoom but we never know how tall the 29:31 other person is and like you know it's 29:33 it's really hard to to exist in this way 29:36 and to run not just you know it's not a 29:38 business like this is a movement and 29:40 we're running a movement this way where 29:42 camaraderie and solidarity are so 29:44 important and yet 29:46 we have to do it over computer screens. 29:49 for 99% of the time. So, here we are 29:53 together. I just want to urge you all if 29:56 you do anything with this weekend is to 29:59 celebrate with each other and to 30:01 celebrate us. It is so cool that we all 30:04 get to be together in in the same space. 30:06 And I really just hope that you all take 30:08 full advantage of that. Make friends in 30:10 other bargaining units. This is how we 30:12 get stronger. And I just want everyone 30:16 to leave here wanting to run it back 30:18 again next year. And like they've got 30:20 more of a shared community of interest 30:22 with all of their colleagues here in 30:25 this union than they did before. 30:31 Um, I wanna I want to just talk, this 30:33 might be repetition for some of you, but 30:35 I want to give just some like basic 30:37 stats about our union. Um, before we get 30:41 into kind of what we've done over the 30:43 last year, 30:45 we represent,00 30:47 workers and 18 bargaining units at 14 30:52 ski and snowboard resorts in four 30:54 different states. Kind of a mouthful, 30:58 right? I think that exemplifies that 30:59 this [ __ ] ain't easy. 31:03 We're currently bargaining at three 31:06 different bargaining units. Fighting for 31:08 a successor contract for ski patrollers 31:10 at Whitefish and our and we're 31:12 bargaining first contracts with bike 31:14 patrollers at Keystone and Park City. 31:17 Our membership has more than doubled in 31:19 size since 2019. 31:22 Despite that rapid growth, we've been 31:24 able to focus inward and become stronger 31:27 to the point where our membership 31:28 percentage across all bargaining units 31:30 is right around 90%. 31:33 You guys hear that, right? Yeah. Okay. 31:38 90% membership across 18 bargaining 31:40 units. This is something that in the 31:42 union world is tough to come by. Um, you 31:46 all should be very proud of yourselves 31:47 and the work that we've done. 31:51 I want to talk a bit about the year that 31:53 we've had. We were together last October 31:56 in Telluride and and we talked about the 31:59 year that we've had before that and and 32:01 now we're going to talk about what's 32:02 happened since and it's kind of a lot. 32:07 You know, the fall rolls around every 32:09 year pretty reliably. The leaves start 32:11 changing, the temperature starts 32:12 dropping, and if we're not under 32:15 contract, our bosses, if they're smart, 32:17 start to sweat a little bit, maybe get a 32:20 little tick in their step, right? They 32:22 get a little bit nervous. 32:25 This leverage that we have materialized 32:27 last fall. We won hard-fought first 32:30 contracts at Aldora and Whitefish and 32:33 heavy-hitting successor contracts at 32:35 Steamboat, Big Sky, and Breenidge. All 32:38 between the months of October and 32:39 December. 32:40 This continues to demonstrate itself and 32:43 I'm happy to announce that patrollers at 32:46 Arapjo Basin after 15 months of 32:50 bargaining 32:52 15 months of bargaining. They have been 32:54 put through the ringer by this company, 32:55 but they have a ratification and a 32:58 contract that's going to meaningfully 33:00 change the lives of all of their 33:01 members. And I'm just really, really 33:03 proud that they were able to get that 33:04 done. 33:12 That brings us to to the big one from 33:15 last year. And for the second year in a 33:18 row on December 27th, 33:21 uh, United Mountain Workers members went 33:24 on strike for better wages. 33:29 >> You're never getting one, Gary. Not when 33:30 you're with us. 33:33 Christmas is busy season, baby. Um, the 33:37 68 members of Tellide Ski Patrol showed 33:39 their unity and strength by walking off 33:42 the job and doing everything they could 33:44 to be transparent and materially 33:46 supportive for each other and their 33:48 community. The company showed its 33:51 weakness by closing, showing their 33:54 complete apathy for the health of their 33:55 workers and the town they claim to care 33:58 so much about. 34:00 After nearly two weeks of unneeded pain, 34:04 the company came to the table and gave 34:06 in to the patrollers's demands and the 34:08 strike was won. 34:11 The strike caused a huge deal of stress 34:13 for all of the patrollers that were 34:16 affected. I'd like to ask our tellide 34:18 patrollers to please stand up. 34:30 The poise and dedication to doing what 34:33 was right that you all showed was 34:35 nothing short of inspiring and 34:37 admirable. We're all lucky to be able to 34:39 work with a team with the skill and 34:42 commitment to our cause that you all 34:43 have. 34:45 One more time, can we please give them 34:47 like a huge round of applause? These 34:48 workers mean the world to us. 35:00 I want to move on and talk about some of 35:03 the challenges that we're facing because 35:05 there's some that are obvious and some 35:07 that maybe are a little more 35:08 complicated. 35:11 You know, the obvious is that our 35:12 employers continue to treat our 35:14 communities like prey and treat our 35:17 workforces like prey, extracting as much 35:20 revenue as they can. capitalizing on our 35:23 care for each other and leaving 35:26 conditions in the working class in 35:27 mountain towns desperate if not 35:29 impossible. 35:31 We also face community level 35:33 dysfunction. 35:36 Private equity has bought property in 35:38 our communities to the po to the point 35:40 of creating a housing crisis. 35:44 I'm going to back this up with some 35:45 statistics that I've got kind of canned 35:47 up about Park City. 35:50 Since 2019, the average value of a home 35:53 in Park City, has increased over a hund% 35:56 to over $2 million. 36:00 The average home value in Summit County, 36:02 Utah, where Park City is located, is 36:05 $1.5 million. 36:09 At the same time, the average income for 36:11 hourly workers is under $40,000 36:14 annually. 36:16 Let's add one more stat just to make 36:17 this a little bit more desperate. In 36:20 Park City, 80% of residences are 36:23 classified as vacant or short-term 36:26 rentals. As you expand to Summit County, 36:29 the amount of inaccessible housing for 36:31 locals only drops to 60%. 36:34 60% of homes in the county with this 36:38 size of a workforce 36:40 are inaccessible to those workers. 36:46 The bottom line is that our city and 36:48 county governments in combination with 36:51 greedridden realtors associations have 36:53 sold us all out in the name of 36:55 short-term insecure wealth. 36:58 This is bad policy. 37:01 That's all this is. And it's really bad 37:04 and it can leave us feeling hopeless and 37:06 desperate and like we're having to 37:08 scramble just to make ends meet. 37:12 But I think we have a chance. 37:15 I think we have a chance to fight this 37:17 in a meaningful way if we continue to 37:19 organize 37:21 from within. We need to double down on 37:24 our excellent membership density to 37:27 build better engagement, arming 37:29 ourselves with the capacity and the 37:31 members that are active to fight on 37:33 multiple fronts. 37:36 We have influence in our communities and 37:38 at our resorts. 37:42 We need to own that. We've spent the 37:44 last few years rightfully being focused 37:47 on building our own bandwidth and 37:49 focusing within 37:52 But it's time for us to step out of the 37:54 shadows and engage these problems on the 37:57 working class level. 37:59 And so in practice, what can that look 38:03 like? Right? It's easy to say, maybe 38:05 harder to do. 38:08 I have a couple ideas. 38:10 Let's organize more aggressively. 38:13 We, the,00 members of United Mountain 38:17 Workers, have been the drivers of 38:19 positive change for an entire industry. 38:22 It's time for us to challenge our 38:25 colleagues in other departments and at 38:27 other resorts to step up and join us. If 38:30 we want to address the root of our 38:32 problems, we're going to need more of 38:34 us. 38:36 Engage with your communities and local 38:39 government. 38:41 We're used to fighting our employers 38:43 exclusively, 38:45 but the solution to our housing crisis 38:48 is in the hands of local government, 38:49 whether we like it or not. 38:53 Let's turn this crisis into community 38:55 level campaigns. 38:57 Let's show up to local events, build 38:59 support systems for community members, 39:01 and make our demands for fair housing 39:03 clear to the community and to those with 39:06 the power to create change. 39:09 We will need the full diversity of our 39:11 local workforces in order to win this 39:13 fight. 39:17 Lastly, let's go win bigger. 39:20 We've gotten a lot of awesome wins over 39:22 the last several years, and that's and 39:25 that's really cool. And I just want to 39:26 challenge you all to think bigger. 39:30 We've gotten wages and benefits that 39:32 have changed people's lives 39:35 in substantive real ways whether they're 39:37 in a union or not working across this 39:40 industry. 39:42 How much bigger can we go? That's my 39:45 question. Like what do you what do you 39:47 guys think we can get? Can we 39:50 what about paid for year round health 39:53 care? What about a pension? 39:57 What about a seat on the board of the 39:58 goddamn company? 40:00 >> Right? Like what do we want? Because if 40:03 we maximize on the leverage that we 40:05 have, I believe any of that and more is 40:08 possible. 40:13 Any good 40:15 speech should end with a call to action. 40:19 And here's mine for you all. 40:24 first is to take care of yourselves. 40:29 This work is challenging and stressful 40:31 and 40:33 and the work that we do during our 40:37 winter season, during our summer season, 40:41 all of it is stressful and takes a toll 40:43 on these communities. The mental health 40:45 crisis in mountain towns should not be 40:49 disregarded. 40:51 even though we often find ourselves on 40:53 the front lines needing to care so much 40:55 more about someone else's health rather 40:57 than our own. 40:59 So, please just like get back to the 41:03 basics. 41:04 Eat colorful food, drink lots of water, 41:08 eight hours of sleep, maybe seven, 41:10 that's fine. 41:14 Like, these basics will help us sustain 41:17 this movement. That's what we need from 41:20 each other. 41:22 My second ask is to take care of each 41:24 other. Be forgiving of each other when 41:27 we have moments of weakness. 41:30 Check in with your co-workers about 41:31 their stress levels. 41:34 I know that there are some groups that 41:36 that use the stress continuum and some 41:39 groups that kind of laugh it off and 41:40 other groups that have their own 41:42 internal processes. 41:44 What I do know is that we could all do 41:46 better. And so challenge yourselves 41:50 to step up for you and your co-workers 41:52 and do one little thing better to help 41:54 support each other. 42:00 The last is to support your union. 42:04 We are all one part of this union. 42:08 No member of this union is worth more 42:10 more than one. 42:13 And we need as many of these parts to be 42:16 engaged in this struggle to maximize on 42:19 what we can accomplish. 42:23 Hold your leaders accountable, 42:26 but also be a part of the solution. 42:30 Believe in what we're fighting for. 42:37 I believe so much in what we're fighting 42:39 for. And I believe that the 42:41 possibilities in front of this group 42:45 are only limited by our own imagination. 42:49 And I just want to thank you all because 42:51 I'm continually inspired by this 42:55 membership 42:57 and 42:59 and the community that I get to just be 43:02 one part of. 43:04 Uh so thank you all. I hope you guys 43:06 enjoy the rest of the day. 43:18 Sorry. 43:30 >> All right. Thanks, guys. That part's 43:31 over. Thank God. 43:35 I got to play MC for the day. Uh, so 43:38 we're just going to keep this thing 43:39 rolling. Um, we've got a couple more 43:41 speakers. 43:44 Um, first I want to shout out an officer 43:46 that's not here today. Um, Thomas 43:48 Pierman is our secretary and a crest of 43:51 lift mechanic. Uh, Thomas and his wife 43:53 just welcomed their first child into the 43:56 world uh, last week. Um, 43:59 so please, you know, raise a glass for 44:01 him or whatever. Uh, but don't bother 44:04 him. He's busy. 44:06 Um, 44:08 I just want to say about Thomas that 44:10 he's he's just been really excellent to 44:11 work with over the last year as 44:14 secretary and and in his time as an 44:16 officer with Crest Lift Maintenance. Um, 44:19 he believes in this fight and is so 44:23 quick to just take on special 44:25 assignments to help us continue moving 44:27 forward. He's such an asset to to this 44:30 union and I just want to give a lot of 44:32 credit to Thomas Pier. 44:43 Yeah, big up to that, huh? 44:58 >> Yep. 45:00 Our 45:03 next speaker is your vice president, 45:06 Jackie Carney. Jackie and I have been 45:09 working together for three years. Uh, in 45:12 that time, Jackie built a house, 45:16 continued to grow her own landscaping 45:18 business while working as a full-time 45:20 forecaster for the Tellide Ski Patrol, 45:23 and managing to be impactful for our 45:26 union as secretary of Tellide Ski Patrol 45:29 and vice president of United Mountain 45:31 Workers. 45:32 Where do you get that energy, Jackie? 45:38 It's it's very clear to me that Jackie 45:41 is destined for great things. Her work 45:44 ethic, humility, and fierce loyalty to 45:47 her community are inspiring and have 45:49 made her an asset to our team. It's been 45:52 a privilege to work with her, and it's 45:53 my privilege to introduce your United 45:56 Mountain Workers Vice President, Jackie 45:57 Carney. 46:21 Hi everyone. Um, my strong suit's 46:24 definitely not animated speaking, so 46:26 it's tough to follow Max up, but I'll do 46:28 my best. 46:30 And 46:34 Um, I really just wanted to talk about 46:35 how far I've seen this union grow in the 46:38 last three years while I've been in my 46:39 position. Um, I remember pretty clearly 46:42 three years ago when we had this meeting 46:46 in or I guess two years ago in Park 46:49 City. um we were especially uh somewhat 46:54 on the brink of disillusion and 46:56 disorganization and it's been pretty 46:58 amazing to see how much that's changed. 47:01 Um thanks to Max, thanks to Anna um our 47:06 first treasurer and now Blake Thomas um 47:09 all the people in this executive board. 47:12 Um, we spent nearly the second day of 47:14 that that first meeting with us as 47:16 officers just trying to sort out the 47:18 basics of where our dues had gone and 47:20 where they were going. Um, so if you're 47:22 newer to the union, 47:24 know that, you know, our financial 47:26 security right now, it hasn't always 47:28 been that way. Um, and that's created a 47:31 lot of power for us. Um, thanks to all 47:34 of those guys, we're now a pretty dialed 47:35 unit in that way. And I want to preface 47:38 this by also saying I'm going to speak 47:40 from the perspective of a ski patroller 47:42 because that's been my own experience. 47:44 Um, but I'm so grateful for the lift 47:47 maintenance portion of this membership 47:49 and I'm really excited to see that grow 47:50 as well. I think from our perspective as 47:55 patrollers, your job is so crazy and um, 47:59 you guys also are an essential portion 48:02 of operation every day and obviously 48:04 things wouldn't turn without you. 48:07 Um, we couldn't also couldn't have made 48:09 it anywhere close to where we are 48:11 without the unwavering commitment Max 48:14 has made to this unit over the past two 48:16 years. If you don't know Max that well, 48:19 um, he pretty much spends every free 48:22 moment he has working on this to his own 48:24 detriment sometimes. So, I just want to 48:27 give him a big thank you and little 48:29 round of applause. 48:33 Not going to make you stand up, but 48:36 Um 48:39 yeah, he's really dedicated his life to 48:41 this unit and he's made it something 48:43 that I think um I had never seen in my 48:48 role at Telluride before this and um now 48:51 we have this real strength and backbone 48:53 behind our bargaining unit and the rest 48:55 of the bargaining units. Um and this 48:57 capacity to grow that I'm excited to 49:00 see. 49:02 Um, we also couldn't have made it 49:04 anywhere close to where we are with um 49:07 without our excellent organizer Ryan 49:11 all the way in the back. 49:14 Um, and our union rep, Gary Jordan, 49:19 who's travels all over to help us. 49:23 And I can speak personally from our 49:25 experience last year with Gary that he 49:28 was essential and having him in the room 49:30 with us um with Teresa 49:34 was 49:36 what we needed. 49:38 Um and you know 49:42 she's gone now. It was great. 49:46 >> No, 49:48 she's just dead to us. 49:53 Um, 49:57 sorry. Um, you know, we were talking 50:00 about on our way up here yesterday, me, 50:03 um, Graham and Tony in the car, just 50:06 about some praise we've received 50:08 externally, which is nice for us to hear 50:10 after kind of a tenuous fall last fall. 50:13 So, I wanted to share some of that with 50:14 all of you guys. Um, just last week, I 50:18 was at the international snow science 50:20 workshop. Alo is there with a lot of 50:21 patrols unionized and non-unionized in 50:24 Whistler. Um, and what I heard over and 50:26 over again directly and indirectly 50:29 through my co-workers, including my 50:30 supervisor who is there, was, "Thank you 50:33 for all the work you've done. You've 50:35 made a huge difference in our wages." 50:37 And um, we're seeing these companies 50:40 come to the table and give us what we 50:42 want. Even the non-unionized patrols. 50:45 um 50:48 everyone's seeing the benefits of our 50:50 organizing efforts in this industry and 50:53 that couldn't have happened um without 50:56 all of you guys being brave enough to 50:58 stand up for what you're worth. I even 51:00 had last last week had a 35 year 51:04 patroller um from our unit tell me that 51:06 the raise they received last season was 51:08 the first one him and his wife who's 51:10 also a patroller had received in their 51:13 tenure that actually made a difference 51:15 in their life. Um and that was pretty 51:18 cool to hear. 51:21 Um this all of this progress would not 51:23 be possible without the support and 51:26 unity of this local as a whole. Um the 51:29 understanding we have of each other, our 51:31 unique skill sets, and how necessary we 51:33 are in this somewhat elitist industry. 51:38 My hope is that we can continue to 51:40 leverage this as we grow our membership 51:43 in the coming years. Um, and as Max said 51:46 the other day when we were talking about 51:48 where this thing can go is we really 51:51 have the keys to the car. And I don't 51:52 want anyone to forget that in this room. 51:54 I think what our bosses and management 51:58 is realizing, um, it's taken them a long 52:00 time to get there, but they're realizing 52:02 that when we walk away, any of us, that 52:07 they can't run their business. Um, you 52:09 know, find me an avalanche worker run 52:11 willing to run a route um, cold without 52:14 seeing it before, you know, respond to a 52:17 trauma incident on a mountain they don't 52:19 have memorized. 52:20 um or a mechanic willing to work 60 feet 52:22 in the air in wind and snow. Um it's 52:25 pretty hard to replace us and I think 52:27 this is our biggest strength. I want to 52:29 see us continue to capitalize on this 52:31 unity and our specific skill sets um as 52:34 we both connect with our local 52:36 communities and insulate ourselves from 52:38 needing support um from outside of our 52:41 local here. I think we do a really good 52:43 job of taking care of ourselves and um 52:47 leaning into our strengths. I'm excited 52:49 to see we're supporting both our current 52:51 membership 52:53 um and supporting all of the communities 52:56 that go along with us as long as well as 52:58 bringing in new members over the next 53:00 seasons will take us. 53:04 Um I also 53:07 would like to end with a call to action 53:10 which 53:12 would be sorry 53:15 um I don't want any of us to be afraid 53:17 to engage with our communities. That was 53:19 my biggest takeaway from our experience 53:22 in Tellide uh last year is that you're 53:26 not going to get everyone to engage with 53:28 you, but the person who you can explain 53:31 your truth to and kind of change their 53:34 mind and get them on board. Um there's 53:37 nothing like making that kind of 53:39 conversion with someone. And it's okay 53:41 if someone's not going to agree with 53:44 you. These are really hard places to 53:46 live. Um And I just, you know, also want 53:49 us all to try and remember that. Um, and 53:53 in that way kind of not take that, uh, 53:56 disagreement personally. Um, you know, 53:59 we we experienced a lot of vitrial last 54:02 season. I and really in reflecting 54:05 pretty hard on that over the last year, 54:07 I think a lot of that is coming from um 54:12 just people's own fear and stress and 54:14 trying to exist in these communities. 54:16 And we need to do our to bring all those 54:18 people in and make them understand that 54:22 if we're all in this together, we're a 54:23 lot stronger. 54:26 That's all I've got. 54:34 >> Thank you guys. 54:44 >> One more time for Jackie, please. 54:56 I've been really fortunate over these 54:59 years to meet and work with so many 55:01 different unions and and labor leaders. 55:05 And over that time, I've found myself 55:08 particularly inspired by those working 55:10 in the public sector. 55:13 While we in the private sector have the 55:16 National Labor Relations Act and the 55:19 right to collectively bargain as a 55:22 rulebook. 55:24 Public sector unions are having to fight 55:26 publicly for everything. 55:29 They're creating effective resistance in 55:32 massive workplaces around issues that 55:35 affect their workers the most. 55:37 Our 55:39 last speaker for the morning is a local 55:41 leader who I look up to. 55:45 Jade Kelly is the president of CWA7799 55:49 which represents several public sector 55:51 unions across the front range from 55:53 campus workers at University of Colorado 55:55 and Colorado State to Boulder counter 55:58 county employees to health care workers, 56:01 public defenders, library workers and 56:04 more. 56:06 Local 7799 has demonstrated they are 56:09 willing to struggle publicly in order to 56:12 grow outward and strengthen their 56:13 current membership. 56:16 Jade Kelly leads this struggle from the 56:19 front. She coordinates collective action 56:22 with strategic vision that has actually 56:24 changed public policies. 56:27 She uses the powerful democracy of 7799 56:30 members and turns it into meaningful 56:32 actions and results that make life 56:34 easier for public workers. 56:37 Jade cares so deeply for the working 56:40 class and we are just so lucky to have 56:43 her here today. And so without further 56:45 ado, it is my privilege to introduce to 56:48 you 56:49 my friend and one of my inspirations, 56:51 the president of your favorite union's 56:54 favorite union, Jade Kelly. 57:11 Give it up for Max Miguel. Come on. 57:17 I am very excited to be here today. I'm 57:19 going to start with some gratitude and 57:21 then like two apologies, three apologies 57:23 maybe. Whoa. I guess four apologies. 57:26 That's getting some feedback. Um, United 57:29 Mountain Workers has been like one of 57:30 the most inspirational campaigns I have 57:34 seen in my entire, 57:36 you know, short life. I'm only 14 years 57:38 old, so you know, it's I've been still 57:40 looking around, but um, just seeing you 57:43 organize mountain after mountain after 57:46 mountain. Where you guys at now? Like 50 57:47 [ __ ] one. Is that real? Can someone 57:50 tell me what the real number is? 57:53 >> 18. 57:55 >> Someone's lying. 42 42 mountains. Okay, 58:00 I exaggerate. Incredibly impressive. And 58:03 you're taking on some of the richest 58:05 [ __ ] in the entire world. And 58:07 you're doing it in a fearless manner in 58:10 a way that needs to be done in one in 58:12 some of the hardest places to w live in 58:14 some of the hardest, you know, 58:16 precarious working conditions. I used to 58:19 be a mountain worker in Arizona at 58:22 Snowball. I was guest services doing my 58:25 best to steal money from the boss and 58:26 then I moved over to ski school trying 58:29 to I don't know teach children that 58:31 falling down is fun. I don't know what I 58:33 was trying to do there. Um now with the 58:36 apologies I have to leave at like 12:15 58:39 to go back to Denver and that's going to 58:41 seem rude. I got to go. They got like a 58:44 big trans rights rally and we're doing 58:46 our best to like fight for civil rights 58:48 and human rights today and so I'm doing 58:49 a lot today but I did not want to MISS 58:51 THIS TODAY. 58:57 I WAS NOT EXPECTING APPLAUSE FOR THE 58:59 APOLOGY. The other apology is I wrote 59:02 this slide deck last night. I was a 59:04 little high. Um there's definitely some 59:06 typos. So forgive me for the poor jokes 59:10 and um actually can I have them hit 59:12 refresh because I was editing while I 59:13 was there in there with the just like 59:16 refresh on the browser. 59:18 Did it work? Unite Mountain Workers 59:21 biggest fan. Yay. See, I'm changing it 59:23 as it goes. All right. Um, how do I move 59:26 to the next slide? Oh, I got a little 59:28 clicker. Look at this. 59:32 Where do I point it? There it goes. 59:34 Okay. What is 7799? Um, we are your 59:37 favorite union's favorite union. We've 59:38 got seven unions with inside of our 59:40 local uh we didn't ex exist more than 59:43 six years ago. And we started as a 59:45 graduate student union. I'm not a 59:46 graduate student ever. I'm a 59:48 bachelorette. I don't have an advanced 59:50 degree. a university staff member. I've 59:52 been working at CU Boulder for the past 59:53 12 years. Um, but I wanted in um I was a 59:57 co-chair of staff council. It was like 59:59 the equivalent of the company union. Um, 1:00:02 and we desperately needed a labor union, 1:00:04 especially to make the boss say yes when 1:00:07 he wants to say no. Um, and one of the 1:00:09 ways that we started talking with the 1:00:11 graduate student union at the time was 1:00:13 how do we build power in a way that is 1:00:16 insurmountable? Really taking on not 1:00:19 only the employer in our state, but the 1:00:22 tech oligarchs who have taken over 1:00:23 public higher education, the wararm 1:00:26 mongers who taken public higher 1:00:27 education, the richest men who have work 1:00:30 to take over our conference rooms and 1:00:32 our budgets. Um, and the way we've 1:00:35 decided to look at it, and we saw a 1:00:37 really great model in the south, which 1:00:38 was United Campus Workers. Um, they've 1:00:41 been organizing in states that did not 1:00:42 have the right to collectively bargain. 1:00:44 Um, and they were building wall-to-wall 1:00:46 models, faculty, staff, graduate, 1:00:48 undergraduate workers, everyone with a 1:00:50 paycheck, saying, "Our fight is bigger 1:00:52 than one job classification." While 1:00:55 tenure track faculty and minimum wage 1:00:57 workers might not make sense in a 1:00:58 bargaining unit, we are all have the 1:01:00 same boot on our neck and it's about 1:01:02 time we start acting like it. And we 1:01:04 have started doing that. And the second 1:01:06 we started organizing, we never thought 1:01:07 this would happen. But then Denver 1:01:09 Health workers were like, "Hell yeah, we 1:01:11 want in on that. We needed to start 1:01:13 organizing as well. Jussi Health 1:01:15 workers, Denver Public Library workers. 1:01:19 Six years later, we've added seven full 1:01:21 unions. Pikes Peak Library Workers 1:01:23 United down south in Colorado Springs, 1:01:24 the Defenders Union of Colorado for 1:01:26 workers in the state public defender 1:01:28 system. Um Boulder County Employees 1:01:31 Union. And the thing that unites, you 1:01:33 know, a public defender in steamboats, a 1:01:36 Denver Health nurse um who's just got 1:01:39 off two 12-hour shifts in a row. um a 1:01:42 library worker down in uh you know 1:01:45 Colorado Springs who's you know on the 1:01:47 discord in the stacks is that we are all 1:01:49 uniquely [ __ ] by Colorado labor law. 1:01:52 Um as Max mentioned we have been 1:01:54 excluded in the Colorado labor peace act 1:01:57 that workers in the state died and 1:01:59 fought for. Um but we were those at that 1:02:03 time made a decision a political 1:02:05 decision that public sector workers were 1:02:07 too hard to fight for in that moment and 1:02:10 we were excluded from the right to 1:02:11 collectively bargain the right to file 1:02:13 for a union election. Some of our 1:02:14 bargaining units we are at majority so 1:02:17 we're calling it premajority unionism 1:02:18 and we're at majority um but we don't 1:02:21 have the ability to do it. That being 1:02:23 said we have transformed our workplaces. 1:02:25 We have transformed our state and the 1:02:28 power of a union is not just you know, 1:02:31 permission from our employer, permission 1:02:33 from laws to build power. It it is the 1:02:36 simple truth that is co-workers coming 1:02:37 together, uniting um under collective 1:02:40 action and fighting the boss. And so 1:02:42 that is what our spirit is and that's 1:02:45 what we've been able to do. So what does 1:02:48 a Denver Oh my god. No. Oh no. Go back. 1:02:53 It's okay. Uh what does a Oh, I gotta do 1:02:56 better. Okay. Uh, what does a Denver uh, 1:02:59 library union have to do with United 1:03:01 Mountain Workers? It's a mean question. 1:03:03 Um, but it's everything because we've 1:03:05 been able to build power past the 1:03:09 traditional ways that the NLRB that 1:03:11 certain bargaining units, certain 1:03:13 restrictions we've seen with inside of 1:03:15 unions that have been largely a 1:03:18 compromise in this country in a way that 1:03:20 has been able to transform laws. both 1:03:22 Boulder County and Denver Public Library 1:03:24 Workers United, we never knew that we 1:03:26 were going to get the right to 1:03:27 collectively bargain. We were told by 1:03:29 many unions um that talk to us when you 1:03:32 get the right to collectively bargain. 1:03:34 Well, guess what? We're not going to get 1:03:36 it unless we start unionizing. So, 1:03:38 that's why we found CWA. That's why we 1:03:40 started organizing and that is where we 1:03:42 started building that power and um we 1:03:45 were able to really shift this. Building 1:03:47 wallto-w wall also allows us to move 1:03:50 past those arbitrary job classification 1:03:52 attacks not just you know our direct 1:03:54 supervisor but the oligarchs who are 1:03:57 really privatizing our entire public 1:04:00 services and as I mentioned we're not 1:04:02 asking for permission we can create the 1:04:04 power the work power to create change 1:04:06 bargaining units workplace in our 1:04:09 workplaces so that our jobs and our 1:04:11 institutions are funded and treated as 1:04:13 essential and I want to just talk really 1:04:14 briefly about one of our biggest 1:04:16 campaigns that we said recently we 1:04:19 changed the law in Denver and we did it 1:04:21 by going directly to the voters. We got 1:04:23 the strongest version of collective 1:04:26 bargaining in the public sector in the 1:04:27 state of Colorado with strike rights for 1:04:29 15,000 municipal employees. It is one of 1:04:33 the strongest um versions of public 1:04:35 sector collective bargaining in the 1:04:37 country. And we did it with library 1:04:40 workers and knocking on 35,000 doors. A 1:04:44 lot of people told us we were crazy, 1:04:46 that we were doing it irresponsibly. And 1:04:48 we said, "Fuck that. We're tired of 1:04:50 waiting. We know what it takes to win, 1:04:53 and we are going to bring as many people 1:04:54 as we possibly can. And that includes 1:04:56 the community." And not only were we 1:04:59 right, but we were right by a big 1:05:01 margin. We won by a two to one victory. 1:05:04 And we got double the amount of yes 1:05:06 votes, the double amount of no votes. 1:05:13 Even after organizing for five years, 1:05:14 even after changing the law, the library 1:05:17 commission continued to delay, delay, 1:05:20 delay, and then they voted unanimously 1:05:22 to refuse to accept our card check even 1:05:24 though we got it into to you, the Denver 1:05:26 Collective Bargaining Law. Even though 1:05:28 we had 75% of Denver Public Library 1:05:31 workers on cards, showing that the boss 1:05:32 is going to break the [ __ ] law. 1:05:33 Showing the reason why we need to have 1:05:35 big ass bargaining. 1:05:38 The reason why we took that poison as 1:05:42 our antidote and we smiled because we 1:05:44 knew we were going to win. We 1:05:47 got all of those votes within like a 1:05:49 couple of days. I have never seen 1:05:50 anything like it. And we just won Denver 1:05:53 Public Library Workers United with 96% 1:05:56 yes across 38 branches across the city 1:05:59 of Denver and an overwhelming victory. 1:06:01 And I am so [ __ ] proud. 1:06:06 So why does this matter to y'all? 1:06:11 Some of the direct join model and we're 1:06:13 starting to see this coming out of the 1:06:14 public sector, out of those, you know, 1:06:16 right to work states, out of, you know, 1:06:18 the pseudo right to work states like 1:06:19 Colorado that have excluded the public 1:06:20 sector and seeing that actually 1:06:22 transform private sector where we've 1:06:24 seen some limitations that have, you 1:06:26 know, allowed big oligarchs like we've 1:06:28 seen in the ski industry be able to 1:06:30 squish um, you know, individual 1:06:32 bargaining units. Um boop. Okay. Um and 1:06:37 it opens up the ability for mountain 1:06:40 workers like yourselves to, you know, 1:06:42 build worker power on the mountain 1:06:44 across resorts in a way that can be 1:06:46 incredibly powerful. Um it can also 1:06:49 bring in new workers into your um unit 1:06:52 that might not otherwise that are 1:06:54 otherwise difficult to organize in a 1:06:55 traditional bargaining unit campaign. Uh 1:06:58 seasonal workers, temporary contract 1:06:59 employees, legally uncovered employees. 1:07:02 Um, sometimes this means not focusing on 1:07:04 collective bargaining. As I mentioned, 1:07:06 it can be cool, but we've had some 1:07:08 amazing transformational campaigns down 1:07:10 in uh Colorado Springs. We had a um a 1:07:14 campaign that scared the [ __ ] out of UC 1:07:17 Health just running a bathroom campaign. 1:07:20 We had um nurses in the middle of COVID 1:07:23 pissing themselves because they were too 1:07:25 pressured to not go to the bathroom 1:07:27 because of how bad the staffing ratios 1:07:29 had gotten. And so we started just 1:07:31 fighting for dignity, fighting for 1:07:33 humanity. And now anytime we run a 1:07:36 campaign, 1:07:37 they're terrified of us because not only 1:07:40 did we got grow our union density 1:07:42 through this campaign, not only did we 1:07:43 get nurses, doctors, surgeons, top level 1:07:47 leadership to join our union because we 1:07:49 are wallto- wall. We got community 1:07:51 members to show up for us. How dare they 1:07:53 not let you go to the bathroom? That is 1:07:55 a human right that is protected by law. 1:07:58 But that is how this working conditions 1:07:59 had gotten there. And I think one of the 1:08:02 things that shows us more than anything, 1:08:03 especially we've seen this unprecedented 1:08:05 attack on working people and unions, is 1:08:07 that direct membership gives us 1:08:09 independence. We saw Trump take this 1:08:11 away from federal unions. We've seen 1:08:13 with, you know, payroll deductions. It 1:08:15 can be really convenient, but direct 1:08:18 membership and having them sign up 1:08:19 through a jot form through, you know, 1:08:21 using either their debit card or their 1:08:23 bank. I encourage you go to bank trap 1:08:26 because we don't want to give a single 1:08:27 penny to those [ __ ] credit card 1:08:29 companies but is is it allows you to be 1:08:33 resistant to those and then it keeps 1:08:35 that relationship between where it 1:08:37 should be between workers and their 1:08:39 union and doesn't have the painful teeth 1:08:43 pulling activity of constantly talking 1:08:46 to HR when that payroll deduction is 1:08:48 inaccurate or needs to be updated and 1:08:50 that weird relationship that exists and 1:08:53 it allows you to build power in a way 1:08:55 across the public sector as we've seen 1:08:57 in Colorado as we've done with 7799. 1:09:04 Great point. There we go. Um, as I 1:09:08 mentioned, this can gives uh arbitrary 1:09:10 job classifications can limit your 1:09:11 power. Um, we've seen this particularly 1:09:15 in higher education where they've 1:09:16 constantly invented new job 1:09:18 classifications. They've used contract 1:09:20 works, retitle jobs, and move workers 1:09:23 outside of bargaining units. Even if it 1:09:24 hasn't happened to you yet, it will. 1:09:27 They have done this repeatedly just to 1:09:29 eliminate positions and either promote 1:09:32 people into a fake ass lead position or 1:09:34 just be able to, you know, completely 1:09:37 eliminate and use subcontract work. If 1:09:40 the union only organizes what management 1:09:42 or labor law allows you to define as the 1:09:44 bargaining unit, that limits that allows 1:09:47 a management to actually control your 1:09:49 power as a union. Uh wall to- wall also 1:09:53 allows you to tackle systemic problems. 1:09:55 We've seen the use at these resorts of 1:09:58 company towns and forcing uh workers to 1:10:01 live and pay their employer to live near 1:10:03 the place that they work. Um so ski 1:10:06 patrol, constructor, lift operators, 1:10:08 retail workers, food service, 1:10:09 hospitality, maintenance, seasonal 1:10:11 employees, all have different jobs, but 1:10:13 they face the same employer in the same 1:10:16 economic system that is [ __ ] all of 1:10:18 us. And strong unions refuse to let the 1:10:21 boss divide us. We've seen that so often 1:10:24 in all of our workplaces. Faculty hating 1:10:26 students, students hating work, faculty, 1:10:30 staff hating everyone. 1:10:32 Well, guess what? We've got a bigger 1:10:34 enemy to fry. We've got people who are 1:10:36 limiting our paycheck, who are making it 1:10:39 so that I'm working 12-hour days, and 1:10:42 that is the same one person that is 1:10:44 impacting faculty, the same person that 1:10:46 is impacting student workers, that are 1:10:48 keeping pay low, that I'm keeping 1:10:49 working conditions unsafe. The strongest 1:10:51 union might be the one capable of 1:10:54 connecting workers instead of allowing 1:10:55 the company to divide them, point the 1:10:57 finger at each other. 1:10:59 Oh, that's the other United M workers. 1:11:01 Uh, that is United Mine Workers. I 1:11:03 thought that was fun. They have the 1:11:04 acronym is y'all. Um and then also a 1:11:07 good example of building power across 1:11:09 job classifications um and um taking on 1:11:13 the richest men in the country 1:11:16 with guns. 1:11:21 Just a hint. Okay. Um where do I point 1:11:24 this? I still haven't figured it out. Um 1:11:26 okay, this does and I don't want you 1:11:29 know this isn't like this is what y'all 1:11:30 are doing. This is just a thought. You 1:11:32 are in charge of your union. I'm just a 1:11:34 fan here. But this does change your 1:11:37 organizing model fundamentally. It 1:11:39 changes it from how do we win a union 1:11:42 election for ski patrol here to how do 1:11:45 we build enough worker power to crush 1:11:47 the ski industry oligarch 1:11:49 because that's the question because 1:11:51 they're coming for all of us. They are 1:11:53 definitely organizing. We can see it 1:11:55 with project you know 2030. You know I'm 1:11:58 sure they had a retreat. I'm sure they 1:12:00 went out you know probably to Beck 1:12:02 Breenidge. um to write that document, 1:12:04 write that 800 page. They did a lot of 1:12:06 stakeholdering into that. They came with 1:12:08 the plan. We need to organize, too. We 1:12:10 need to be able to match their power and 1:12:12 hit them where they're at and be able to 1:12:14 do that across their industry and 1:12:16 recognize where our power is limited and 1:12:18 what we need to do to be able to defeat 1:12:21 their power and where we might fall 1:12:23 short. 1:12:26 So, some common hurdles we have seen um 1:12:28 and how to overcome them. Um, as I 1:12:31 mentioned, you know, if you have just a 1:12:34 faculty union or just a graduate 1:12:35 student, great example, uh, using back 1:12:38 there, if you only talk about graduate 1:12:40 student worker issues, you're not going 1:12:42 to be able to get faculty. You're not 1:12:44 going to be able to get staff. But if 1:12:45 you go up, if you talk about the 1:12:47 privatization of of higher education, if 1:12:50 you talk about the attack on DEI and 1:12:52 trans rights, the attack the overreach 1:12:54 of the federal system of um the you know 1:12:58 depressionalization of higher education, 1:13:01 you can really start to bring in larger. 1:13:04 You've got to start punching up and find 1:13:06 those widely and deeply felt issues that 1:13:09 are not just based off of one um job 1:13:12 classifications that are felt throughout 1:13:14 the entire mountain in the entire 1:13:15 community. Employer controlled housing, 1:13:17 company town dynamics. Um those are the 1:13:20 type of things that you will have to 1:13:21 start thinking about thinking about a 1:13:23 past not just a ski patrol union 1:13:25 demonstrating that membership means 1:13:27 power and not just an insurance policy. 1:13:30 Some people think of a union as a 1:13:32 service, right? What is the what is the 1:13:35 union doing for me? Right? You got to 1:13:38 change that. A union is not a service. 1:13:41 It is a opportunity to build power as as 1:13:45 a collective. Workers are both empowered 1:13:47 and responsible to build their own 1:13:50 union. And you need to hold each other 1:13:52 accountable when you don't. And so 1:13:54 making sure that you can do that and be 1:13:56 able to reach out and give people a 1:13:59 reason. joint and also opportunities, 1:14:02 new members to hold leadership position 1:14:05 and be able to move forward. Leader 1:14:07 identification. You want to make sure 1:14:10 that you talk to that 1:14:12 worker on your mountain who is the most 1:14:14 trusted lifty, who is the most trusted 1:14:17 food service worker and get them to 1:14:19 understand what is at stake at this 1:14:22 moment. Why we need to build power. what 1:14:25 will why what what they risk by not 1:14:28 doing this and making sure that they 1:14:31 join their union and if you get them 1:14:33 you'll get everyone else afterwards 1:14:36 worker and community action as Max 1:14:38 mentioned you cannot just stay on the 1:14:39 mountain these issues are in the local 1:14:42 government they're in the state 1:14:43 government they're in the federal 1:14:44 government and I hate it I hate 1:14:46 politicians but damn it especially as 1:14:49 public sector workers every budget we 1:14:51 have our paychecks our civil rights our 1:14:53 workplace protections our human rights 1:14:55 are debated by the people that are 1:14:56 elected and that happens also in 1:14:58 mountain towns as well. Getting involved 1:15:00 with your local government, coming up 1:15:01 with endorsements, making sure that 1:15:03 people those folks come graveling to you 1:15:05 for an endorsement and saying you will 1:15:08 not make a decision without talking to 1:15:09 us first is how you build power and how 1:15:12 you make sure you can hold people like 1:15:13 Bale like Alterara accountable. So, 1:15:17 those are some hurdles. Takes a bit and 1:15:20 then some ways to over 1:15:23 All right, 1:15:25 I'm going fast because I don't have a 1:15:27 lot of time. Sorry again. Um, breaking 1:15:31 free requires thinking big. Confined 1:15:34 sometimes means less choices. When you 1:15:36 have a small bargaining unit, when you 1:15:37 have just one mountain going on strike 1:15:40 at a time, employers can easily turn a 1:15:42 small strike or a small organizing 1:15:44 campaign into an unfavorable choice. 1:15:46 Either remain within uh the tightly 1:15:49 constrained tactics or potentially 1:15:51 escalate and risk injunctions, fines, 1:15:54 discipline, and institutional repression 1:15:56 at work. The re the way to get past this 1:15:59 is escalate, escalate, escalate. And I 1:16:01 want to point to a really great example 1:16:03 that happened in 2018 with the West 1:16:05 Virginia teacher strike. Um it was just 1:16:08 started as one West Virginia school 1:16:10 district that was contemplating going on 1:16:11 strike during a season of massive 1:16:14 layoffs and budget cuts. Um they talked 1:16:16 to United Mountain Workers um over in 1:16:19 West Virginia, the guys with the guns. 1:16:21 Um and they were saying like, "How do we 1:16:24 do this?" You know, they've been putting 1:16:27 in charter schools. They've been going 1:16:28 for privatization. how do we make sure 1:16:30 we we do this? Um, and then particularly 1:16:33 this was at a time where we saw a lot of 1:16:35 fines being hit on unions that went on 1:16:37 strike illegally. U million-doll fines 1:16:40 for unions that just absolutely 1:16:41 financially crippled the union. Um, 1:16:44 especially if they didn't go through the 1:16:46 NB. And they brought up a phrase that I 1:16:49 thought was really powerful. You got to 1:16:51 go allin or nothing. You got to raise or 1:16:53 you got to fold. And it they made the 1:16:57 choice to not only go on strike but make 1:16:59 it a statewide strike. And that 1:17:01 fundamentally changed the political 1:17:03 calculation for every school district in 1:17:05 the entire state. If the strike was 1:17:07 contained to one school district, they 1:17:09 could be isolated and punishment. But a 1:17:11 statewide strike created a fundamentally 1:17:14 different political calculation because 1:17:16 the sheer number of participants made it 1:17:18 so hard for individual um retaliation. 1:17:21 Not only did they win, but they won big. 1:17:23 And they won for every single teacher in 1:17:25 West Virginia and every single student 1:17:27 who goes to public school. And they 1:17:29 overwhelmed the state capital as you can 1:17:31 see here in this picture. Um, another 1:17:34 great example of this further back in 1:17:36 history, the 1934 Longman shore strike 1:17:40 started off with a few hundred long 1:17:42 shoremen going on strike on the docks. 1:17:44 Strike breakers and scabs quickly 1:17:46 overran them. Um, and they chose the 1:17:50 only way that they knew how they decided 1:17:52 to get more and more workers. They got 1:17:53 every single dock worker that they 1:17:55 possibly could to also go on strike. The 1:17:57 teamsters, the truck drivers, um the 1:17:59 delivery folks, uh the fishermen, um all 1:18:03 went on strike. They started bringing in 1:18:07 people from nightclubs, restaurants, uh 1:18:10 teachers. They brought in city workers, 1:18:13 municipal workers. They um they kept 1:18:16 escalating and escalating and 1:18:18 escalating. They brought in the National 1:18:20 Guard to squash this strike and that's 1:18:22 when um the San Francisco and the 1:18:25 Alamita AFL CIO labor council decided to 1:18:29 call for a general strike and led to 1:18:31 150,000 workers in San Francisco going 1:18:34 on strike. They brought in the Army and 1:18:38 I'll be honest, they ended the strike 83 1:18:40 days in and they didn't get all their 1:18:42 demands. But you know what they did do? 1:18:46 Credible threat. Any time they went on 1:18:49 strike, bosses folded immediately. And 1:18:52 that was every single worker in the Bay 1:18:54 Area. They got the worker the bosses 1:18:57 were terrified from them moment. Every 1:19:00 from that moment on, they were afraid 1:19:03 that they were going to go on strike and 1:19:04 bring 150,000 workers to the docks yet 1:19:08 again. and that showed their power and 1:19:10 their ability to escalate and their 1:19:12 ability to build a massive coalition. So 1:19:15 these wins sometimes take time, but the 1:19:17 ability to escalate, the ability to 1:19:19 bring in power, the ability to bring in 1:19:21 more workers is something that you 1:19:24 cannot uh u forget. There's them 1:19:27 bringing tanks in. 1:19:30 Cool. 1:19:33 Imagine the ski industry power veil 1:19:37 $2.96 billion dollar in revenue last 1:19:41 year. I did the math for the amount of 1:19:45 Veil employees. That's $441,00017 1:19:50 44 4176 1:19:52 and 47 cents per mountain. 1:19:56 Let that radicalize you. Um that is 1:19:59 owned by Apollo Group Management who is 1:20:01 owned by Leon Black. He is the guy next 1:20:04 to Jeffrey Epstein. Um, 1:20:07 he was known and has been written about 1:20:10 quite a bit. I'm sure a lot of y'all 1:20:12 know. He financed what they called 1:20:14 Jeffrey Epste coming. He claimed for 1:20:16 bankruptcy and Leon Black financed him 1:20:19 to the tune of around $200 million. 1:20:22 Um, Alteramount Resort, the revenue is 1:20:24 not publicly available, but it is owned 1:20:26 by KSL Capital 400 or 40 billion dollars 1:20:29 in assets. 32.05 1:20:32 5 billion in just revenue for Apollo 1:20:34 Group Management. These are what we're 1:20:36 up against. This is what y'all are up 1:20:38 against as United 1:20:40 just naming it. But the truth is, Veil 1:20:44 and Altera do not run without your 1:20:46 labor. Does not run without United 1:20:48 Workers. Y'all have the ability to unite 1:20:51 across resorts, to bring veil to their 1:20:53 knees, to bring Altera to their knees, 1:20:55 begging and willing to hand over power 1:20:57 and raises across the board. We've seen 1:20:58 this happen and this is not impossible. 1:21:01 UAW with the standup strike is a great 1:21:04 example of this. 1:21:06 They went on strike and they did it in a 1:21:08 very strategic way. They went on strike 1:21:11 in surprise ways. They didn't announce 1:21:13 where they were going on strike. A new 1:21:15 day, a new location going on strike, new 1:21:18 workers going on strike. They were able 1:21:20 to do that to be able to reserve their 1:21:22 strike fund, be able to surprise 1:21:24 management and cause as much chaos and 1:21:27 disruption as possible. Collectively, 1:21:29 the top three automakers are worth 120 1:21:32 billion. That's more money. And they 1:21:34 were able to win 25% raises, five $5,000 1:21:38 cola for every single worker 1:21:40 immediately, and then got a $25 minimum 1:21:43 wage to a $40 minimum uh minimum dollar 1:21:46 wage increase for for this strike. So 1:21:48 yes, they have a lot of money, but you 1:21:50 know what defeats money? 1:21:53 Our labor. If we put our hands in our 1:21:56 pocket, we've got them whipped. We got 1:21:58 to make sure we got to build the 1:22:00 density. We've got to make sure we build 1:22:01 the power with inside of our workplaces. 1:22:03 We got to make sure that they can't 1:22:04 break us. Solidarity can work. And it 1:22:08 has worked. Unions can win. 1:22:12 Lastly, 1:22:15 oh no, my little joke. 1:22:18 Oh, well, okay. 1:22:21 It's fine. Um, why should you listen to 1:22:25 Jade? She doesn't even go here. Um, 1:22:29 right. I'm a public sector worker. I 1:22:31 work at CU Boulder. I'm dressed like an 1:22:32 art teacher. 1:22:37 I don't know if I'd listen to me. Um, 1:22:40 union density has been shrinking for the 1:22:42 past 50 years. Let's name that. We're 1:22:45 about at 6.2%. 2% in Colorado. At the 1:22:49 height of the labor movement, we were at 1:22:51 30% and that was in the 30s. And it was 1:22:52 nothing more elegant than workers with a 1:22:55 clipboard and a list of everyone who 1:22:57 worked in their workplace. Let's go talk 1:22:59 to everyone there. They didn't have 1:23:00 collective bargaining rights. They have 1:23:02 the right to organize. They didn't have 1:23:04 the ability to, you know, go petition 1:23:07 the NLRB. 1:23:10 This is what we're talking about. We 1:23:12 cannot keep doing the same organizing 1:23:14 strategy and expecting different 1:23:16 results. Recognizing that we're all in 1:23:18 this together. 1:23:20 That's why you should listen to me 1:23:22 because I want power too. This is not an 1:23:24 altruistic thing. I'm not just, you 1:23:27 know, speeding down the 70 in between 1:23:30 here and Denver 1:23:32 because I want to hear myself speak 1:23:35 partially, 1:23:38 but because the public sector, 1:23:42 we're at risk of our jobs being lost, 1:23:44 good union jobs. When we think about 1:23:47 unionization, we have to think about 1:23:49 power. And we look at it in the public 1:23:51 sector, we look at the state legislator, 1:23:52 the governor, but we also look at the 1:23:53 private sector. 1:23:55 funding the fascist candidates that are 1:23:57 looking to destabilize our entire public 1:24:00 services. Apollo Group spends hundreds 1:24:03 of millions of dollars to privatize 1:24:05 higher education, defund Medicaid, cut 1:24:07 taxes, eliminate our jobs. Apollo Group 1:24:09 owns the University of Phoenix, the 1:24:11 biggest private higher education 1:24:12 institution in the world. 1:24:15 And so, your enemy is my enemy. The boot 1:24:17 on your neck is the same boot on my 1:24:19 neck. We might not have a lot in common. 1:24:21 You might not dress like an art teacher. 1:24:23 But I want the boot off my neck and I'm 1:24:25 guessing you do too. 1:24:27 Unions are a really good slow strategy. 1:24:32 We can build power as workers. It's not 1:24:35 going to change tomorrow. We have to be 1:24:37 strategic. We have to think about our 1:24:38 project 2030. 1:24:41 But the more workers willing to fight 1:24:43 together, the faster and bigger wins 1:24:44 we'll get and the more power in workers 1:24:46 hands. As I mentioned, motives are not 1:24:49 altruistic. Solidarity means recognizing 1:24:52 where there's safe vote. It's about time 1:24:53 to start acting like it. Can you hit 1:24:55 refresh on the slides real quick? 1:25:07 Yeah, there's Max helping me. There's 1:25:09 solidarity. 1:25:12 I needed to put on some lipstick. This 1:25:13 is how I met Max. We were standing in 1:25:15 line to go win an award for United 1:25:17 Mountain Workers winning a badass award. 1:25:19 7799 winning a badass award for helping 1:25:22 this state of labor giving people hope. 1:25:26 And I was like, "Hey, I don't know you, 1:25:27 but I need to put on some lipstick. Can 1:25:29 you help me? Can you be my mirror for a 1:25:31 second?" Didn't blink. What a man. What 1:25:33 a man. What a mighty good man. 1:25:37 Thank you for having me. Long live CWA. 1:25:39 Long live United. 1:26:03 Everybody, one more time to Jade, 1:26:04 PLEASE. 1:26:10 Uh we we are so lucky to have gotten 1:26:13 Jade up here and uh any any time with 1:26:16 Jade Kelly is time well spent. So, thank 1:26:18 you, Jade. Appreciate you. 1:26:20 Um, we are going to move on in our 1:26:23 programming here 1:26:25 to uh what are we moving on to? 1:26:28 Workshops. Sweet. Um, so we've got a 1:26:32 lineup of workshops. There are three 1:26:36 choices for you to take right now and 1:26:38 we're going to do these for about an 1:26:40 hour. Once we wrap, I'm going to just 1:26:43 like introduce the workshops and also 1:26:45 talk about just the logistics here. 1:26:49 It's 11:20 1:26:51 right now. Um, let's plan on getting 1:26:54 into the workshops by 11:30, running 1:26:57 them until 12:30. 1:27:00 And is everybody is anybody 1:27:02 uncomfortable with an hour and a half 1:27:05 for lunch from 12:30 to 2? 1:27:09 Speak now. All right, cool. Um, so when 1:27:12 you get done with your workshop, don't 1:27:13 come back in here thinking that we're 1:27:14 going to send you off to lunch. Just go 1:27:16 get some lunch. Um and we will meet back 1:27:20 here at 2 PM. 1:27:24 Um we have three workshop opportunities 1:27:27 for you all. Um first is going to be uh 1:27:31 an organizing discussion with our own 1:27:33 organizer Ryan Denine. Um 1:27:37 second is a collective bargaining 1:27:39 discussion with myself and Gary Jordan. 1:27:43 Uh both of those, if you'd like to 1:27:45 attend, are going to meet out in the 1:27:47 lobby. Um in the big room, we're going 1:27:51 to have a workshop 1:27:54 forming and operating a mobilization 1:27:56 committee. We've got the Breen Ridge 1:27:59 President, Bobby D. Marini, and Ethan 1:28:02 Smith, the Park City Ski Patrol 1:28:04 Secretary, who are going to run that 1:28:05 workshop for you guys. And like that's 1:28:08 not the simplest lingo. Essentially, a 1:28:11 mobilization committee is a structure 1:28:13 that's made of members to translate 1:28:16 information from executive boards and 1:28:19 bargaining committees directly to the 1:28:21 membership to solicit direct feedback on 1:28:24 a one-on-one basis. If you want to talk 1:28:26 about how a 70 person unit at 1:28:28 Telleluride, a 200 person unit at Park 1:28:30 City can have one-on-one conversations 1:28:32 with every single member to gauge 1:28:34 whether or not they are ready to go on 1:28:36 strike to gauge whether or not they're 1:28:38 ready to show up to their general 1:28:40 meeting all wearing the same t-shirt. 1:28:42 Whatever it is, it all happened through 1:28:44 the mobilization committee. And this is 1:28:45 the nuts and bolts of how we pull these 1:28:48 actions off. And so I'd encourage you 1:28:50 guys to consider attending um Bobby and 1:28:53 Ethan's 1:28:55 uh workshop. All of these are going to 1:28:57 be discussionbased. So don't like expect 1:28:59 a lecture. Come in willing to 1:29:01 participate, ask questions, and have an 1:29:04 open mind. Uh any questions before we do 1:29:08 that? 1:29:10 >> Larry, do you want more of us? 1:29:18 >> We We've got our two people and I want 1:29:20 you guys to do what you want to do. Yep. 1:29:26 >> Um the organizing and collective 1:29:29 bargaining discussions will meet out in 1:29:32 the lobby and we'll figure out where 1:29:34 we're going from there. Uh mobilization 1:29:36 committee discussion will just be right 1:29:39 here. 1:29:45 >> Yeah, Adam. 1:30:06 Nice. 1:30:08 >> Sick. 1:30:09 >> Um, yeah. We And I'd say like if anybody 1:30:12 brought swag, break it out. Thank you 1:30:14 guys for doing that. Um, so that was 1:30:18 definitely something I meant to plug and 1:30:19 forgot. 1:30:24 Ready? Break. 1:30:25 >> All right, cool. 1:33:16 Um yeah, just to introduce myself and 1:33:19 then I'll let Brian and Ethan introduce 1:33:21 themselves. I'm Bobby D. Marinas going 1:33:24 into my eighth year patrolling um at 1:33:27 Breck um and yeah, I stepped into the 1:33:30 president's role um this past fall. Um, 1:33:35 prior to that, uh, when we were 1:33:37 negotiating our last contract, um, I was 1:33:39 head of our immobilization committee, 1:33:41 and that's what we're going to talk 1:33:42 about here today is the nuts and bolts 1:33:44 of what a mobilization committee does, 1:33:46 some of our lessons learned from Breck 1:33:49 and Park City, uh, what worked, what 1:33:51 didn't work. Um, and really curious, you 1:33:53 know, where you all are from bargaining 1:33:56 unit wise, where you're at with 1:33:58 mobilization committees, and what 1:33:59 questions you have. So, we kind of 1:34:01 envision this as like a little uh open 1:34:03 forum and Q&A. Um, I'll let them 1:34:06 introduce themselves and then it'd be 1:34:08 great if folks um wanted to at least 1:34:10 introduce your unit. If you've got a 1:34:12 bunch of people here from the same unit, 1:34:14 love to hear where you're at in terms 1:34:16 of, you know, having a mobilization 1:34:17 committee, what you utilized it for. Um, 1:34:21 and yeah, let you guys introduce 1:34:23 yourselves. 1:34:26 I'm 1:34:28 Smith from PCP just 1:34:33 roanked 1:34:40 member 1:34:42 perspective 1:34:44 successful 1:34:46 mobilization. 1:35:47 Yeah, we'll we'll open the floor to you 1:35:49 all before we get into the narrative 1:35:52 story 1:35:54 with our mobilization. But yeah, someone 1:35:57 from each unit wants to 1:36:02 mobiliz 1:36:49 Um, 1:36:49 >> microphones be good. Help me. Yeah, 1:36:52 mobilization is something we struggle 1:36:54 with as a unit simply because we are 1:36:57 spread out through like four counties. 1:36:59 We don't have any kind of like central 1:37:01 hub of people living in and in a a 1:37:05 tight-knit area. So, we really have a 1:37:07 hard time with this type of stuff. So, 1:37:09 looking for some um advice for kind of 1:37:13 more virtual or or distanced 1:37:15 mobilization efforts. 1:37:19 Sweet. Yeah. Um I'm Luke from Park City 1:37:22 Lift Maintenance. Um I'm the vice 1:37:25 president, one of the two vice 1:37:27 presidents there. Um kind of a similar 1:37:30 situation. We are bargaining in 2028. Uh 1:37:34 so um yeah, I figured I'd try to get 1:37:37 some ideas rolling and um similar where 1:37:41 we have half our unit is split between 1:37:44 living in Salt Lake City and Heber and 1:37:47 so we're you know 40 50ish miles away 1:37:51 from each other. So um yeah, definitely 1:37:55 excited to get some ideas rolling. 1:38:01 Uh, my name is Blake Dawan. I'm from Big 1:38:03 Sky Ski Patrol. Um, we got a few of us 1:38:06 here. We've never done any mobilization 1:38:08 committee and I think we're all really 1:38:10 interested in it. Um, definitely in ways 1:38:13 to like flex those muscles and maybe 1:38:17 more accessible 1:38:19 accessible ways to do it. Maybe um like 1:38:22 something that's short of a strike 1:38:23 obviously and something that's just a 1:38:25 good way to practice and uh make those 1:38:28 committees. But yeah, no, we haven't we 1:38:30 haven't done it yet. And I think similar 1:38:31 to a lot of patrols, we're we're like 1:38:35 separated through three different towns 1:38:36 that are very far apart, too. And 1:38:39 sometimes we're like, "Oh, that's a 1:38:40 unique issue we have." So, we can't do 1:38:42 these things. But it's not unique at 1:38:44 all. And a lot of us have that. So, 1:38:45 excited to hear y'all's thoughts. 1:38:53 >> I'm Jason. We're from Steamboat. Um, as 1:38:56 far as I know, we don't really have a 1:38:57 mobilization unit. We have a very good 1:39:01 bargaining unit and a fundraising unit. 1:39:03 And I guess Steamboat's kind of unique 1:39:06 that we all are kind of live in 1:39:07 Steamboat. So, we're all neighbors and 1:39:10 we work together and live together. So, 1:39:12 yeah, I'd like to hear some thoughts 1:39:13 about how we can improve as well. 1:39:21 >> Well, I'm Jack from A Bas. uh was just 1:39:24 on our bargaining committee as we got 1:39:27 our first contract. Um we definitely 1:39:29 struggled with engagement and I know we 1:39:31 tried to stand up some sort of 1:39:33 mobilizing committee going into like 1:39:35 towards the end of our bargaining. Um, 1:39:38 we had a lot of difficulty driving 1:39:40 engagement, getting anyone else to uh 1:39:43 have ownership over that process and 1:39:45 like stepping up to try to get people to 1:39:48 show up for us or do any sort of event 1:39:51 leading up to us trying to get our 1:39:53 contract. So, I'd love to hear some more 1:39:55 from you guys and from anyone who's got 1:39:57 ideas on that. 1:40:03 >> Hey, I'm uh Evan. I'm the new vice 1:40:05 president at Aldora. Um we do not have a 1:40:09 moization committee. Um but we're 1:40:11 interested. I think the issue that we're 1:40:14 facing is in 2023 when uh Eldora 1:40:18 unionized there's overwhelming support 1:40:20 from the team, the community and since 1:40:22 then we've had a lot of turnover and 1:40:24 it's kind of fizzled out. So we'd like 1:40:25 to up engagement. 1:40:29 I'm Jamie from Whitefish and uh yeah, we 1:40:34 similarly don't really have a well- 1:40:36 definfined mobilizing committee right 1:40:38 now and you know in some ways we're a 1:40:41 small group of like 27 or something. So 1:40:44 there's definitely days where we all 1:40:46 live pretty close by and doesn't seem 1:40:48 super necessary. Our biggest struggle is 1:40:50 usually in the off season when folks are 1:40:53 away. We've got a lot of folks who work 1:40:56 things like, you know, overnight raft 1:40:58 trips and they'll be, you know, away for 1:41:00 a month at a time and without service 1:41:02 for long periods. And so trying to 1:41:05 maintain some sort of, you know, 1:41:08 connectivity there throughout our off 1:41:10 season is probably our hardest thing 1:41:11 that, you know, with everybody living 1:41:14 close together and then working in the 1:41:16 same space throughout the winter with 1:41:18 only, you know, less than 30 folks, it's 1:41:19 not very difficult to communicate things 1:41:21 during that portion of the season. 1:41:23 struggle for sure in our offseason. 1:41:29 >> I'm Reed. I'm from Crest. Uh was elected 1:41:32 president back in February. Um it's my 1:41:35 first time attending this meeting. So 1:41:37 it's great to see all of you, especially 1:41:39 those of you I've seen over Zoom. Um 1:41:43 we are, if you guys didn't know, we're 1:41:45 probably one of the oldest units in the 1:41:49 the UMW. Um, and what we're dealing with 1:41:52 right now is kind of like the apathy, 1:41:56 just kind of like stagnating energy. I 1:41:59 think there's people that are like 1:42:00 they're starting to feel that 1:42:03 the fire and drive is like pressure from 1:42:06 their outside lives or maybe like um 1:42:08 some of those outside effects are now 1:42:10 starting to affect their little insular 1:42:12 world that they've created for 1:42:13 themselves in the outdoor wreck 1:42:14 industry. and uh they're starting to 1:42:17 realize that um maybe more collective 1:42:20 engagement is necessary, but I think we 1:42:22 have a lot of people that are living in 1:42:24 their bubble in our in our unit and um 1:42:26 I'm trying to find a way to drive 1:42:28 engagement with those people that have 1:42:30 kind of fallen into that like what has 1:42:32 my union done for me lately. Um you 1:42:35 know, and really wanting them to stand 1:42:39 up for themselves and for their 1:42:40 communities. Um I know I just kind of 1:42:43 want to gloss over this real quick 1:42:44 before we get into this. We were talking 1:42:46 about community engagement, contacting 1:42:48 like as a as a representative of your 1:42:51 unit, contacting every single one of 1:42:54 your local, state, county, like US 1:42:58 representatives. It doesn't matter if 1:42:59 it's a form letter. Make them explain to 1:43:02 you why your rights don't matter as a 1:43:05 worker. Make them explain to you why you 1:43:08 don't matter. That's important. And 1:43:11 that's a good way to vet those people 1:43:13 and and let them know that there's 50, 1:43:16 60, 200 people that are watching what 1:43:18 they say and see how they change their 1:43:22 tone a little bit. That's 1:43:27 >> Yeah. Sweet. Thank you all for for 1:43:29 sharing. Appreciate, you know, where 1:43:31 you're all coming from in terms of 1:43:32 context and um it's it's amazing to get, 1:43:34 you know, this this group together um 1:43:37 and our bargaining units um across the 1:43:40 you know, some as small as eight, a Park 1:43:43 City pushing like 200, right? Um, so 1:43:46 every bargaining unit is is unique in 1:43:48 its its makeup and we have a lot of the 1:43:50 same um challenges but also different 1:43:53 challenges and trying to mobilize our 1:43:55 bargaining unit. Um, and there is no 1:43:58 playbook for us in order to do it. 1:44:01 That's kind of selfishly one of the 1:44:03 takeaways we want from this workshop is 1:44:05 at some point in the future um have a 1:44:08 group from the diverse units of the UMW 1:44:12 um start collaborating on a mobilization 1:44:15 manual um you know compiling all of our 1:44:17 shared experiences, what works, what 1:44:20 doesn't work. Um that could be a 1:44:21 guideline um for us as we continue to 1:44:24 engage with our our unit and um bargain 1:44:27 for for fair contracts. Um so we'll 1:44:31 start by just kind of going through the 1:44:33 narratives of our experience um in in 1:44:35 heading up mobilization committees. Um 1:44:37 we'll start with Brian. Um he was on our 1:44:41 most recent bargaining session. So uh um 1:44:44 team so he's got a a good perspective. 1:44:47 Um and then I'll go into kind of the 1:44:49 rank and file of communicating 1:44:51 information and mobilizing. Then Ethan 1:44:54 will share from from Park City his 1:44:55 experience. 1:44:58 Do you want to use a mic for the live 1:45:00 stream or stand up here? 1:45:07 >> And it sounds like we have some people 1:45:08 with mobilization committees that aren't 1:45:10 working could be more effective. Some 1:45:12 people haven't started their 1:45:13 mobilization committee. What I'd say is 1:45:15 no matter where you are, do it now. Um, 1:45:18 so if you're not in negotiations, it's a 1:45:21 great way to look at the manual, look at 1:45:23 the best practices of standing one up 1:45:25 and then test it. uh low low stakes, 1:45:28 just get information out there. Um and 1:45:30 then if you're in negotiations, it's the 1:45:32 single biggest thing that we did that 1:45:35 actually helped us at the table. Um in 1:45:37 add 1:45:40 um but just in terms of context, so this 1:45:42 is now um our experience um how we set 1:45:45 it up and then we'll get into um what 1:45:47 went well, what didn't go well. Uh so 1:45:49 this is 2025. 1:45:51 Um, we started our negotiations with 1:45:54 Vale in April and uh had our first 1:45:58 meeting um intent to try to knock this 1:46:01 out in 30 to 60 days and then we didn't 1:46:03 hear from them for four months. Um and 1:46:07 so really nothing. Um and then over the 1:46:10 course of the next four months, things 1:46:12 really intensified um intensified to the 1:46:15 point of either um um 1:46:19 near walkouts um to accusations 1:46:24 um to um just manipul manipulating 1:46:28 tactics. Um and so clearly things were 1:46:32 heating up and um we realized we had 1:46:36 three gaps. Gap number one was how do we 1:46:40 share information to the membership 1:46:42 about what the hell is going on and like 1:46:44 all you said in the summer nobody's 1:46:46 really engaged. Um and we felt like we 1:46:49 were on an island. Um so we needed to 1:46:52 get the word out for education and 1:46:54 awareness but even more importantly we 1:46:56 needed information coming back in. Um 1:47:00 we didn't know how hot our membership 1:47:02 was. We didn't know what they were 1:47:04 willing to do. We didn't know if they're 1:47:05 willing to strike. we didn't know if the 1:47:07 types of things we were going after were 1:47:10 the things that they wanted. So, 1:47:12 literally that was the biggest gap. The 1:47:15 second huge gap that we had um was 1:47:19 really sharing with the public and veil 1:47:23 um the tenor of our membership. So, I'm 1:47:27 talking social media, I'm talking things 1:47:29 that you can do um that makes headlines 1:47:32 whether it's in the newspaper. So we we 1:47:34 weren't able to get the word out to then 1:47:36 empower us at the negotiating table. Um 1:47:39 and that's why we turned to mobilization 1:47:41 committees and other things. And so 1:47:43 Bobby will talk about how we set ours 1:47:46 up. 1:47:49 >> Um yeah, the terminology uh can get a 1:47:52 little confusing. Um for our purposes um 1:47:56 we had a a large mobilization team that 1:47:59 was broken down um into smaller 1:48:02 branches. Um so we had a pretty broad 1:48:05 definition of what it was to to mobilize 1:48:08 um building internal solidarity um 1:48:12 creating external pressure and all of 1:48:14 these different teams kind of fed into 1:48:16 that that ultimate goal. um just to I'll 1:48:19 breeze through them quickly and then 1:48:21 we're going to focus mostly on kind of 1:48:22 the union demonstrations and the 1:48:24 resources that supported that. Um but we 1:48:29 established teams with an accountable 1:48:31 lead, key metrics for each each team, um 1:48:35 community activation, um union 1:48:37 enrollment and engagement, union 1:48:39 fundraising, union internal 1:48:41 communications, union uh sentiment and 1:48:44 pulse checks, union social media, and 1:48:46 union demonstrations. Um, so we went 1:48:49 through and and reached out to people 1:48:51 who'd be interested in leading these 1:48:53 different kind of subcommittees of the 1:48:55 mobilization team. Um, you've probably 1:48:58 figured this out in your union 1:49:00 unionization efforts, but patrollers are 1:49:02 pretty dog [ __ ] at reading their email. 1:49:05 Um, so the best way to get buy in is 1:49:08 phone calls and conversations in in 1:49:10 person. um rather than an email saying, 1:49:13 "Hey, does anyone want to participate in 1:49:15 this team or head up this team um you 1:49:19 may have one or two people who respond 1:49:21 to that email." Uh but when you call 1:49:23 someone, when you come up with your list 1:49:25 of of people who would be good in these 1:49:26 roles and you call them, um you're going 1:49:28 to get better buy in. So make those 1:49:30 direct asks, 1:49:33 "Um you think would be best in in some 1:49:35 of these roles." Um, so one of our 1:49:39 subcommittees, the one that I led up was 1:49:41 union demonstrations. Um, and so 1:49:45 essentially leading efforts to organize 1:49:47 any demonstration. Um, so I think kind 1:49:51 of the overarching goal of ours was to 1:49:54 hear from the bargaining committee what 1:49:55 was going on, um, and have this 1:49:57 escalation plan. Um, you know, if we 1:49:59 weren't meeting um, these demands in our 1:50:03 contract, we had this escalation plan 1:50:06 with C. key dates with, you know, when 1:50:08 we didn't have our contract, we were 1:50:09 going to step up action. Um, in order to 1:50:12 create an escalation plan, um, you need 1:50:15 buyin and sentiment from the union and 1:50:19 from your bargaining unit, you need to 1:50:20 know where people stand. Um all of this, 1:50:24 you know, tracking sentiment of of the 1:50:27 unit, um to making direct asks for 1:50:29 people to participate in a a 1:50:31 demonstration um requires good 1:50:34 communication tools. Um and so the the 1:50:38 first thing I did um as negotiations 1:50:42 were heating up and we were heading back 1:50:44 to work at orientation um was create a 1:50:47 phone tree. Um, and if you've never 1:50:49 heard of a phone tree, it's it's exactly 1:50:51 what it sounds like. Um, it's a way to 1:50:54 quickly communicate to a large number of 1:50:56 people um, utilizing phone tree leads. 1:51:00 Um, so what mine eventually ended up 1:51:03 looking like, and I'm happy to share 1:51:05 this these resources, they may or may 1:51:07 not work for your bargaining unit size, 1:51:08 but it can give you kind of a bare bones 1:51:11 overview of how we did it. Um, I created 1:51:14 an Excel document um, with our entire 1:51:17 membership and about are they a union 1:51:19 member? They on the bargaining 1:51:20 committee, how many years have they been 1:51:22 on patrol? And then of that membership 1:51:26 list identified um about 20 phone tree 1:51:29 leads. Um so called them and saw if they 1:51:33 were interested in in operating as a 1:51:35 phone tree lead. and the phone tree 1:51:36 lead. Uh when um we were trying to 1:51:40 disseminate information about a 1:51:42 demonstration, me and and my co-lead uh 1:51:45 would call everyone on the phone tree 1:51:47 lead, send them documents, answer 1:51:49 questions, and then they would turn uh 1:51:51 to their phone tree list, which we kept 1:51:54 to about eight people per individual. Um 1:51:57 otherwise, you know, it's it quickly 1:51:59 becomes unsustainable if you're trying 1:52:01 to call 10, 15, 20 people. Um and then 1:52:05 we had a way for people to track 1:52:07 information about the conversations um 1:52:10 for at our particular story. Um the 1:52:14 first day of uh our back to season 1:52:17 orientation 1:52:18 um as a show of solidarity to our 1:52:21 bargaining unit um as a show of 1:52:24 solidarity to those who had been 1:52:25 spending you know months bargaining at 1:52:27 the table with veil. Um we reached out 1:52:30 to our unit to see if folks were um 1:52:33 interested in having a visual display of 1:52:34 solidarity by wearing red um to 1:52:37 orientation um on the first day. Um so 1:52:41 that was the first ask and and a big 1:52:43 portion of this demonstration as well 1:52:45 was to test our phone tree um and to 1:52:48 test this resource um before further 1:52:51 escalating to to bigger actions. Um so 1:52:54 we went ahead called all the phone tree 1:52:56 leads had really good conversations. 1:52:58 They in turn um called their whole list 1:53:01 and we communicated that we were doing 1:53:03 this to um all members um and 1:53:05 non-members. Um we use this as an 1:53:08 opportunity to talk to non-members um 1:53:10 who are eligible to be in our union um 1:53:13 but have not joined the unit yet to have 1:53:16 a conversation with them uh and and keep 1:53:18 them engaged and let them know, hey, 1:53:20 this is going on. Um, we're bargaining 1:53:22 for our contract, which you're going to 1:53:24 be working under, even if you're not a 1:53:26 voting member of our our unit. Um, and 1:53:28 we're going to continue escalating our 1:53:30 actions in support of a fair contract. 1:53:33 Um, so would you like us to keep you in 1:53:35 the loop? Demonstration was was really 1:53:37 successful. Um, and a bunch of speakers 1:53:40 from outside of patrol at our 1:53:42 orientation commented on it like, I 1:53:44 didn't know we were supposed to wear red 1:53:46 here. Which is kind of funny to see some 1:53:48 of the managers squirm at that. Um and 1:53:52 then um it escalated as as the 1:53:55 negotiation of our contract was um just 1:53:58 getting stonewalled um where we had a 1:54:01 planned picket the day for our um 1:54:04 contract expiration. Um and the 1:54:09 activation of the phone tree we did for 1:54:10 a a party um where we made a lot of 1:54:14 signs um and then we activated the phone 1:54:16 tree for the picket um itself. Again, 1:54:18 all this data whether attending is being 1:54:21 put into an Excel spreadsheet um for 1:54:23 that last action the plan pick it. We 1:54:25 also created another sheet uh Google or 1:54:28 a Excel sheet that um was like a picket 1:54:33 scheduler and I'm sure Park City um you 1:54:36 know you all had a lot more experience 1:54:37 with us. Um we scheduled one day of a 1:54:40 picket which we ended up cancelling 1:54:43 um and I think in part because of how 1:54:45 successful our phone tree and escalation 1:54:48 efforts were. Um, we cancelled the 1:54:51 picket. Um, we went to town council, um, 1:54:56 and let them know that we were planning 1:54:57 this picket. Received kind of 1:54:59 overwhelming support from the community. 1:55:01 Um, had a a sign building party at a 1:55:04 local ski shop. Shout out to Greenlight 1:55:07 Sam Simons. And I think he took a video 1:55:09 and like posted it to Instagram while 1:55:11 the negotiations were happening. And I 1:55:14 think that video and the news article 1:55:17 about us going to town council um got 1:55:20 into the room on the veil side. Um and 1:55:23 Brian can speak to this, but they were 1:55:24 adamant about having a a marathon 1:55:27 session that night to get a contract so 1:55:30 that we would cancel that pickup. 1:55:33 Um yeah, that's kind of the narrative 1:55:36 from my perspective. If folks that want 1:55:37 to chime in, 1:55:52 start. 1:56:05 Mhm. 1:56:30 No problem. 1:56:54 Yeah. Yeah. And I I think that's really 1:56:55 powerful, you know, about the United 1:56:57 Workers is, you know, that momentum 1:57:00 builds and and we certainly built on 1:57:02 that momentum. Everything we built in 1:57:04 terms of our resources, um, pretty much 1:57:07 stemmed from a really long conversation 1:57:09 with Kate Lips over at Park City. um and 1:57:12 the momentum that they built going on 1:57:14 strike and you know the um escalation 1:57:18 that they saw from Breenidge and and 1:57:21 Park City in the back of their minds had 1:57:23 a a massive effect on on how successful 1:57:25 we were. 1:57:49 Um, yeah. Why don't Ethan Ethan, why 1:57:51 don't you share your story and then 1:57:53 we'll jump into like some some lessons 1:57:55 learned and just open it up to a Q&A. 1:57:58 >> Yeah, sounds great. And I've been known 1:57:59 to ramble, which I'm going to try not to 1:58:01 do because I think there's more value in 1:58:03 talking about your individual situations 1:58:06 here rather than me just talking at 1:58:08 folks for a while. A little bit of 1:58:10 context. Uh I jumped into patrolling at 1:58:14 Park City in the middle of a big 1:58:16 negotiation. I think that lasted 19 1:58:20 months in total. Um and I can tell you 1:58:22 that we did not have a mobilization 1:58:24 committee at that time. And like having 1:58:27 now experienced negotiations with and 1:58:29 without like a mobilization committee is 1:58:32 a really really powerful tool and I 1:58:35 witnessed like a lot of confusion and 1:58:38 disorganization from other rookies 1:58:41 including myself and like even advanced 1:58:44 patrollers uh just throughout that whole 1:58:47 first process that was really curbed 1:58:50 really really well by having a 1:58:53 mobilization committee. So, uh, we 1:58:57 started negotiations spring of 24. 1:59:01 Um, and similar to what Brian was 1:59:04 talking about, had six negotiators in 1:59:06 the room, just kind of stuck with, uh, 1:59:09 how things were going with Veil and very 1:59:12 much so like kind of in their heads and 1:59:14 not hearing from uh, the body of 1:59:17 patrollers. Um and so kind of going into 1:59:21 the fall after, you know, five, six 1:59:24 months of pretty uh slow progress in 1:59:28 terms of negotiations, our executive 1:59:31 board put together a really really 1:59:34 awesome uh plan of escalation 1:59:38 leading into what was that strike for a 1:59:41 couple weeks that winter. And so a huge 1:59:45 part of that um was them choosing to 1:59:50 create this mobilization committee. Um 1:59:54 and that took a lot of planning and a 1:59:56 lot of um like foresight from their 1:59:58 part. that what it looked like in 2:00:00 practice from our executive board was 2:00:03 them realizing that the eight of them 2:00:06 plus the six negotiators can't talk to 2:00:11 180 190 people effectively, right? 2:00:13 That's what our unit is in terms of 2:00:16 size. And so, um, super similar to when 2:00:20 you're organizing to create a unit and 2:00:22 organizing to, uh, yeah, start start a 2:00:26 union. Um, like very much so took that 2:00:30 concept of social mapping and like, you 2:00:33 know, talking to people being a lot more 2:00:36 effective than trying to get people to 2:00:38 understand really anything via an email. 2:00:41 like that's not that's not a good way to 2:00:44 communicate, right, to to folks who work 2:00:46 outside every day. So, uh what it looked 2:00:49 like for us was really our our executive 2:00:52 board just putting out in an email like 2:00:55 a call to to action for folks who wanted 2:00:59 to be involved to step into this 2:01:02 mobilization committee. Um it wasn't 2:01:04 like them approaching people on a one by 2:01:07 one basis. It was like anybody who is 2:01:10 willing to help like we need help come 2:01:13 join us. And so started as about 10 2:01:16 people um right at the beginning of the 2:01:19 season there eventually throughout the 2:01:21 season grew into like 30 to 35 people 2:01:24 who were uh on this mobilization 2:01:26 committee and communicating with folks. 2:01:29 And so, similar to Breck, like you know, 2:01:32 I don't want to talk a ton about our 2:01:34 collective actions, but we started with 2:01:37 everybody wearing the same shirt to our 2:01:39 general meeting being the like first 2:01:41 thing that we do at the start of the 2:01:43 season and then escalated into a 2:01:47 practice picket. and a practice picket 2:01:49 right in front of where negotiations 2:01:51 were actively happening and then a 2:01:54 strike authorization and then eventually 2:01:58 deciding to go on strike. And really 2:02:01 like 2:02:02 this mobilization committee and the 2:02:05 phone tree that that uh Bobby was 2:02:08 alluding to uh was paramount in making 2:02:12 those things happen, right? uh having a 2:02:15 one- on-one conversation with literally 2:02:17 every member of the unit to to ask like, 2:02:22 "Hey, where are you at? How do you feel 2:02:24 about this?" You know, and then have 2:02:26 that really hard ask of, "Can I count on 2:02:30 you to do this? Will you show up for the 2:02:35 rest of the membership and wear a shirt 2:02:38 and show up to this pra practice picket? 2:02:42 Will you vote yes on a strike 2:02:45 authorization? 2:02:47 Super super powerful way to get rank and 2:02:51 file members involved. Also a really 2:02:54 really powerful way to get people who 2:02:56 aren't in elective elected positions 2:02:59 within our unit involved in a way that 2:03:04 feels really really meaningful. 2:03:06 A little bit different than it sounds 2:03:09 like for Breck. Um we were just frankly 2:03:13 so big that our mobilization committee 2:03:15 was a little bit more of a revolving 2:03:18 door. Um really 2:03:22 what in practice it looked like for us 2:03:24 was having a weekly meeting with a few 2:03:27 of our executive board who, you know, 2:03:30 was was pretty run ragged just making 2:03:32 plans and going to negotiations and 2:03:36 dealing with, you know, media and all of 2:03:39 these other things. We'd get a few of 2:03:41 them together to to meet with everybody. 2:03:44 And it was really just whoever showed up 2:03:46 to that mobilization committee meeting 2:03:48 that week. And we would go through talk 2:03:51 about how the previous phone calls we 2:03:54 had had gone with folks, talk about 2:03:56 concerns uh and feedback that we'd 2:03:59 gotten and then plan our next collective 2:04:02 action. Um which like I said like our 2:04:05 executive board did a really awesome job 2:04:07 of having this really great vision for 2:04:11 escalation. And so they would bring 2:04:14 things to the table to us and like that 2:04:17 was a really good opportunity for them 2:04:19 to kind of get out of that like little 2:04:21 echo chamber of just the eight of them 2:04:24 planning and chatting um and kind of get 2:04:27 some more eyes on on things. And then 2:04:31 from there, literally every single 2:04:34 meeting that we had, we would go through 2:04:36 our entire 2:04:38 180 190 person phone tree and make sure 2:04:41 that somebody was assigned who was there 2:04:44 in that call to then make a one-on-one 2:04:48 phone call to every individual person so 2:04:51 that we could make sure everyone was 2:04:53 being talked to, nobody was feeling 2:04:55 excluded, whether they were active in 2:04:59 the unit or whether they were a 2:05:00 non-designing member, like everybody was 2:05:02 getting a phone call and getting chatted 2:05:05 with, being heard out, and then getting 2:05:08 that ask of this is what we need from 2:05:11 you. Um, 2:05:14 that's that's like really the the nuts 2:05:16 and bolts of what it looked like. Like I 2:05:18 said, I was a rank and file member in 2:05:21 that mobilization committee at the time. 2:05:24 Um, I think that like really from my 2:05:28 perspective like it was super incredibly 2:05:31 successful. Um, I think the the big 2:05:35 challenge that like kind of we've hit on 2:05:38 a lot and heard from all of you a little 2:05:40 bit is just like keeping groups like 2:05:42 that engaged when it's not wartime, you 2:05:45 know, um, is a big challenge for sure. 2:05:48 But um like we've found some really 2:05:51 awesome ways to like reactivate those 2:05:53 people and introduce new members into 2:05:56 that committee when we've had things 2:05:58 like um RTO come up which some folks 2:06:02 here um are aware of uh like veil not 2:06:06 honoring their language uh in our 2:06:09 contract about stuff like that. But um 2:06:13 yeah, I guess if if folks have any any 2:06:16 questions about what that looked like 2:06:18 from uh the Park City perspective um or 2:06:23 questions for for Bobby or Brian here. I 2:06:26 think we should open it up to that and 2:06:29 then kind of break out into some smaller 2:06:31 groups and discuss your units and what 2:06:34 this looks like moving forward for you 2:06:36 all. 2:06:40 Great. Sounds perfect. 2:06:42 >> Let me get you a mic. 2:06:47 >> This will be quick. This is my sixth 2:06:48 list of advice. No matter where you are 2:06:50 in the process, uh number one is 2:06:52 mobilization is just um doing something. 2:06:55 But what is the thing that you want to 2:06:57 do? Uh think about that now. Um we call 2:07:00 it I think it was like an actions 2:07:02 library. um which is like again the 2:07:05 basic stuff is wearing shirts or buttons 2:07:07 or petitions or social media campaigns. 2:07:10 Say no to May work, walk out on um 2:07:12 liftac, walk out on orientation. If you 2:07:15 have that list, you kind of think 2:07:16 through the logistics associated with 2:07:18 that and then when it's time to 2:07:20 mobilize, you should think of the call 2:07:22 tree as just the button that says let's 2:07:24 go do that thing. Um so I think that 2:07:26 would be helpful because there's a lot 2:07:28 of logistics that go into this thing. 2:07:30 Um, feel free to not call it a 2:07:32 committee. People have an aversion to 2:07:34 calling things committees. So, we call 2:07:35 work groups or what a team, whatever. It 2:07:37 doesn't matter. Um, I've already said 2:07:40 get it set up now and test it. Um, 2:07:43 increasing your ask of the phone tree 2:07:45 over time. So, Bobby mentioned there's a 2:07:48 lot of tests that you can do whether 2:07:49 it's wearing a shirt, escalating. Um, 2:07:52 make communications tight from the table 2:07:54 to the script to the message to the 2:07:56 action. And so what that means is 2:07:59 negotiating table um understanding what 2:08:02 kind of script you're writing for that 2:08:04 caller to use when they're calling 2:08:07 somebody. And so it's a consistent 2:08:09 message across the callers and you're 2:08:11 actually making it very easy to make a 2:08:14 twominut call. And again that is usually 2:08:17 one ask per call. Um and then connect 2:08:21 and Bobby said this connect your 2:08:23 mobilization with social media public 2:08:25 awareness. get that buzz and figure out 2:08:27 who at the table that you're actually 2:08:29 negotiating with might actually see it 2:08:31 and figure out that avenue. But those 2:08:34 are my quick advice to you and I don't 2:08:36 know if you guys have 2:08:58 So I suppose this is kind of off of a 2:09:00 little bit of the advice, but do you 2:09:01 think there So these examples were 2:09:04 brought up when there's negotiation 2:09:06 going on and you need to call an a call 2:09:08 to action and whatnot. Do you think for 2:09:11 those of us who don't quite have this 2:09:14 mobilization committee in place, if 2:09:15 there's some strategy behind when we 2:09:16 create it, for instance, if it we're not 2:09:19 up for negotiation for a number of years 2:09:21 and you create the committee, do you 2:09:23 think it might be random or do you think 2:09:24 it would lose steam or people would lose 2:09:26 engagement by the time negotiation comes 2:09:28 around? Or do you think it'd be wise to, 2:09:31 you know, like a year or six months 2:09:33 before negotiation, create this 2:09:35 committee, kind of send a message and be 2:09:36 like, "Hey, we're prepared to do what we 2:09:39 need to if [ __ ] hits the fan." Um, or 2:09:41 what basically what I'm asking is like, 2:09:43 is there are there specific reasons to 2:09:45 have this in place before negotiation? 2:09:47 Because I could see that being hard to 2:09:49 motivate people if it's like peaceful 2:09:50 and there's nothing going on um, you 2:09:53 know, negotiations or whatnot. If that 2:09:55 makes sense. 2:09:57 >> Um, yeah, I can speak to that quick. And 2:09:59 yeah, I think Brian um earlier said the 2:10:02 the best time to do it is is right now. 2:10:04 Um and I think the earlier you do it, 2:10:06 even if you know you're several years 2:10:07 out from from bargaining um the better 2:10:10 because you're building these resources, 2:10:12 getting experiences with them, testing 2:10:14 them, and that way the next time you 2:10:16 need to rebuild them, there's experience 2:10:18 with doing it. Um, for example, like th 2:10:22 this season, you know, we we just signed 2:10:24 a a three-year contract, so we're in a 2:10:27 peace time right now. Um, but we want to 2:10:30 keep familiar with this process of 2:10:33 escalation and communication. Um, and 2:10:37 you know, our phone tree, it's changed a 2:10:39 lot. We we lost a lot of people. We lost 2:10:41 like half of our phone tree leads who 2:10:44 had experience in doing it last year. 2:10:46 Um, so yeah, my hope is over the next 2:10:49 month to kind of rebuild the the phone 2:10:51 tree um and test it in in the fall. Um, 2:10:56 and it doesn't need to be, you know, a 2:10:58 huge demonstration building up to um an 2:11:02 action because you're negotiating to 2:11:04 have it be worthwhile. Um, you know, 2:11:06 this fall, you know, for our first uh 2:11:10 unit meeting um in November, we're going 2:11:12 to activate our phone tree and see if we 2:11:14 can get as many people there as 2:11:15 possible. vote on some proposed bylaw 2:11:18 changes. Um, and that there's a lot of 2:11:20 value in that. Again, like testing your 2:11:22 systems, so when it's game time in a 2:11:25 couple of years, you know, we've got 2:11:26 more people with more experience uh with 2:11:28 the phone tree resource. Um, but also 2:11:31 engagement and and building solidarity. 2:11:35 um you know, everyone scatters for the 2:11:36 summertime and and using the fall even 2:11:39 in a year where you're not negotiating 2:11:42 uh to bring people back together, start 2:11:44 engaging um with conversation and and 2:11:47 hearing from the membership just makes 2:11:49 things, you know, more democratic, more 2:11:51 inclusive and build solidarity in the 2:11:53 long run. So yeah, I would say that 2:11:57 build it tomorrow, you know. 2:12:00 >> Yeah. I and I would also just say being 2:12:02 really intentional about what you're 2:12:05 doing with this group of people is 2:12:07 important and that will help 2:12:10 curb burnout and and people just 2:12:14 wondering what what you're doing. You 2:12:16 know, being transparent and being really 2:12:18 intentional. Like you could use these 2:12:20 people in peace time to like start 2:12:23 gathering a contract wish list. Like 2:12:25 that's a really good peace time way to 2:12:28 have a one-on-one conversation with 2:12:30 everybody in your unit to ask what what 2:12:33 people are thinking about, what people 2:12:34 want, using them to to just check on how 2:12:39 contract enforcement is going throughout 2:12:41 a season. Like things like that are 2:12:43 really good ways to activate these 2:12:44 people. But just be intentional about 2:12:47 what you're doing and what your goals 2:12:48 are and what you want these people to 2:12:50 do. 2:12:57 Yeah, I just kind of wanted to highlight 2:12:58 the engagement aspect of it. Um, last 2:13:02 year was our third contract. I'm sorry, 2:13:04 I should introduce myself. Breen Ridge 2:13:06 Ski Patroller, uh, going into my ninth 2:13:09 season. Uh, but yeah, last year was our 2:13:11 third contract and the first and second 2:13:12 contracts and bargain committees did not 2:13:14 have a mobilization committee at all. 2:13:17 and I was on the second bargaining 2:13:19 committee and we kind of just hit a 2:13:21 brick wall in negotiations more or less 2:13:23 as far as like the leverage that we saw 2:13:25 that we had and a lot of what we were 2:13:27 doing at the table was bluffing and 2:13:30 making it seem like we had more leverage 2:13:31 than we actually did. Um, and then I was 2:13:34 a phone tree lead for the last committee 2:13:37 thanks to the work that Brian and Bobby 2:13:39 did and then all the work that you guys 2:13:40 did at Park City to set up the framework 2:13:43 for that. And the difference was night 2:13:46 and day as far as what we're able to ask 2:13:48 for. Just the level of attendance at the 2:13:52 meetings was significantly higher 2:13:53 because that phone tree was involving 2:13:55 people calling and asking whether or not 2:13:57 they were going to show up rather than 2:13:58 just sending out an email saying, "Hey, 2:14:00 we're all getting together." Um, so 2:14:03 again, just trying to emphasize how 2:14:06 critical it was and back to the timing 2:14:07 of it, like doing it sooner than later 2:14:08 because we realized how much work it 2:14:10 would be when we're in that second 2:14:12 bargain committee and we're like, we're 2:14:13 just not ready and it's not actually 2:14:16 feasible to do this in a timely fashion 2:14:18 to get people engaged. Um, so yeah, just 2:14:22 highlighting the importance of it. I 2:14:24 think it changed everything. And if you 2:14:25 look at our contracts, first contract we 2:14:27 just needed to push through was modest 2:14:29 gains. second contract was better, but 2:14:31 the contract that we ratified with the 2:14:33 help of um a mobilization committee was 2:14:37 by far the largest gains that we had 2:14:39 seen and I think there's a definite 2:14:41 definite parallel there. 2:14:48 >> Yeah. 2:14:49 >> Could you guys just speak to some of the 2:14:51 challenges or speed bumps you came 2:14:53 across when you started these 2:14:54 mobilization units? 2:15:01 started our unit 2:15:03 like everything is just like trying to 2:15:04 get people to step up and um and follow 2:15:09 through. And so I think the biggest 2:15:12 thing is you don't need no matter how 2:15:15 big your unit is, you just need a couple 2:15:20 reliable people. Um and so um give them 2:15:24 the love, give them like, hey, let's go 2:15:26 do this. I think we maybe started too 2:15:30 ambitious by trying to have 12 leads and 2:15:33 social media and fundraising and it was 2:15:35 just like that's why we were so thankful 2:15:37 Bobby stepped up into that role and 2:15:39 followed through on that role. Um and 2:15:42 then allowed them to kind of grow the 2:15:44 engagement from there. Um but you're 2:15:47 going to be pretty 2:15:49 um I don't want to say disappointed but 2:15:52 um um it's tough asking for people to do 2:15:55 things. Um, and so find two or three 2:15:58 people you can rely on and start there. 2:16:00 And then maybe next time it's four and 2:16:02 five, but don't get discouraged because 2:16:04 you don't have 12 people of 150 person. 2:16:08 Um, and I think that was um the biggest 2:16:11 challenge for me. I I can't speak on 2:16:13 behalf of 2:16:16 >> Yeah. And I think just starting 2:16:18 somewhere like what Brian is saying like 2:16:21 when we started ours even from like 2:16:23 frankly our unit we have a really really 2:16:25 good engagement and buyin like people 2:16:27 are very in to the union and it's a 2:16:31 really cool thing about our unit and 2:16:33 something that we really appreciate 2:16:35 about our unit. Um but even then like 2:16:38 having 10 people out of 180 people show 2:16:40 up that's like still a lot of workload 2:16:42 right. Um and so starting somewhere and 2:16:45 then we spent a lot of time identifying 2:16:47 people who were like that person would 2:16:49 be good at this and has a lot of social 2:16:52 clout and uh like we need to bring them 2:16:54 in and so who within the 10 people who 2:16:58 had showed up like who can talk to that 2:17:00 person and bring them into this and 2:17:01 that's how we grew our committee from 10 2:17:04 people to 30 35 people and so starting 2:17:09 somewhere and and just growing and 2:17:12 getting after it. 2:17:15 >> Um, and I'd add to that, like have have 2:17:17 conversations often um as you're 2:17:20 escalating, as you're organizing, as 2:17:22 you're mobilizing about the 2:17:24 sustainability of it. Um, burnout is 2:17:27 real from, you know, anyone who is is in 2:17:30 a bargaining session can attest to for 2:17:32 any executives or people who have helped 2:17:34 with committees um with with your unions 2:17:37 um you know, on top of our full-time 2:17:39 patrol jobs and second and third jobs. 2:17:43 Um, you know, volunteering a lot of 2:17:44 hours burns burns people out really 2:17:47 quickly. So, continue to have those 2:17:49 conversations with yourself and and with 2:17:51 your peers. Um, what's going to make 2:17:53 this sustainable? When do you have to 2:17:55 take a step back um and ask for help 2:17:58 from other people? 2:18:02 One more thing I'd just like to question 2:18:05 the whole room here about like social 2:18:07 media and posting in uniform everything 2:18:10 like that. At Steamboat we really face a 2:18:13 challenge where the management does not 2:18:15 want us posting anything in our uniform. 2:18:17 I feel like we're missing a lot of 2:18:19 engagement with the community from that. 2:18:21 So I was just wondering what everybody 2:18:22 else their thoughts are about that. 2:19:06 Definitely bargain. for it in your next 2:19:09 round. Like we bargained for that for 2:19:11 ourselves. It's in our contract that 2:19:16 >> Yeah. 2:19:28 There's two different 2:19:45 Obvious. 2:20:08 Yeah. On the other side. 2:20:38 We weren't really interested in agreeing 2:20:40 to, but it' been a really long process 2:20:43 to try and get a shitty first contract. 2:20:46 Anyhow, so we had reluctantly agreed to 2:20:50 language that says that we can't 2:20:52 be engaged in any anti-UN 2:20:56 like communications of any form. Um, 2:20:59 which is a or anti- mountain. Yeah, I'm 2:21:02 sorry I said that backwards. Yeah, we 2:21:04 wouldn't do that, right? Oh, yeah. They 2:21:06 would love that [ __ ] 2:21:09 >> Yeah, perfect. Go for it. Um, so yeah. 2:21:12 Um, we're in our negotiations right now. 2:21:17 um which that item is still in the 2:21:20 works, but trying to figure some of that 2:21:22 out. It's it's pretty vague what's anti- 2:21:25 mountain or anti- company. 2:21:28 And so like we haven't seen anything too 2:21:33 terrible from the company in response to 2:21:35 some posts that we've had. and it's been 2:21:38 pretty like civil on a couple of things 2:21:40 that they were not happy that somebody 2:21:42 posted, but um things in uniform they're 2:21:45 not opposed to. It seems that um you 2:21:49 know for our contract it's quite open 2:21:52 and vague in that way that it's one of 2:21:56 those things we're trying to get out of 2:21:58 there for for our no strike no lockout 2:22:00 clause for a little context here. Like 2:22:02 the big item for us was that they wanted 2:22:04 us to agree that we waved grievance and 2:22:06 arbitration right for the whole article. 2:22:09 They said they could not operate their 2:22:11 company without it kind of thing. I was 2:22:12 like that's [ __ ] ridiculous. Um so we 2:22:15 we just got them to agree to that and 2:22:17 now we're going to be working into this 2:22:18 other thing. But um yeah, trying to have 2:22:20 that kind of language void of the 2:22:22 contract is obviously the goal. 2:22:26 you know, when you're out of contract, 2:22:28 you can kind of do whatever the hell you 2:22:29 want. But, you know, within the contract 2:22:32 period 2:22:34 duration there, you'd think that, you 2:22:36 know, reasonable posts and things of 2:22:39 that nature would be pretty acceptable. 2:22:41 But the language in ours right now is 2:22:45 super vague. 2:22:53 Um, yeah, we're kind of coming up on our 2:22:56 hour, so I don't want to keep folks from 2:22:58 from lunch. Um, yeah, appreciate all the 2:23:01 conversation and the um experiences from 2:23:04 other other units. Um, my my call to 2:23:08 action would be yeah, like like we said, 2:23:10 you know, start your mobilization 2:23:12 committee um and test it early. Um, and 2:23:16 you know, you don't have to start from 2:23:17 scratch. You know, we can continue these 2:23:19 conversations 2:23:21 um pass contact information and happy to 2:23:25 talk to folks on the phone anytime. Um, 2:23:28 and if anyone's interested, um, I'll 2:23:31 keep my computer open here if folks want 2:23:32 to see what our phone tree looked like. 2:23:34 I got Park Cities as well. Um, and our 2:23:38 mobilization manual that we've started 2:23:40 to build that my kind of pie in the sky 2:23:43 vision for is, you know, a few years 2:23:45 from now after we've gotten lots of 2:23:47 people to collaborate on a manual for, 2:23:49 you know, how to do this based on a lot 2:23:51 of people's experience, you know, and we 2:23:53 have a new bargaining for the first time 2:23:55 and building these mobilization 2:23:56 committees. We have this compilation of 2:23:58 of resources from a ton of experience 2:24:00 with the United Workers. But I encourage 2:24:03 you, yeah, even if um you're not 2:24:04 interested in taking a look at Excel 2:24:06 spreadsheets because it's boring, um if 2:24:08 you want to come up and just write your 2:24:09 email down if you want those resources 2:24:11 sent to you, I'm happy to share anything 2:24:13 and everything. 2:24:18 >> Cool. Yeah. Thanks everyone. 2:24:30 Yeah, I just pulled up. 2:25:23 Thanks, Larry. 2:25:47 Um, I'm gonna 2:25:56 What do we need to say? 2:26:21 No, it's okay. 2:26:29 Those 2:26:54 details are 2:26:56 all 2:27:11 You ready? 2:27:16 >> Hey guys, 2:27:20 >> right at the perfectly timely as always. 2:27:24 Um, 2:27:26 yeah, appreciate you all getting back 2:27:28 here. Hopefully you guys had a nice 2:27:29 lunch. 2:27:31 Um, we're gonna jump right into speakers 2:27:35 again and run through these into our 2:27:38 last round of workshops. 2:27:41 Uh, any 2:27:43 questions, clarifications, anything like 2:27:45 that before we roll into it? 2:27:49 Cool. Um, our next speaker is Ryan 2:27:52 Denine. And uh a man that needs no 2:27:57 introduction will get a small 2:27:58 introduction from me. 2:28:01 It's I mean Ryan's been working for this 2:28:04 union for what four or five years? Five 2:28:07 years now. 2:28:08 >> Yeah. 2:28:16 >> Ryan's been working 2:28:19 working 2:28:25 Um, I mean, realistically, like we we 2:28:29 see the product that Ryan delivers um 2:28:33 when he's in person, when he's on 2:28:34 meetings with us, and I think that we 2:28:37 should also recognize the the product 2:28:39 that he has helped to deliver for this 2:28:42 union. Um, you know, workers organize 2:28:46 themselves and and that's not to diss on 2:28:51 an organizer, but you know, a foundation 2:28:54 of organizing is that 2:28:56 these ideas that we're going to unite 2:28:58 around have to come from within and and 2:29:00 be agreed upon by the workers, not by 2:29:02 the organizer, right? Not dictated by 2:29:05 the organizer. and Ryan's ability to 2:29:08 work with groups and work with their 2:29:11 interests and add 2:29:14 his own perspective at times that are 2:29:16 just exactly perfect is something that I 2:29:19 look up to 2:29:21 a lot and um a lot of us I think have a 2:29:25 lot to learn about about organizing and 2:29:28 we are just like really fortunate to 2:29:29 have in my opinion one of the best in 2:29:32 the business uh to to teach us and so 2:29:35 without further ado. Ryan Dina, 2:29:37 everybody. 2:29:43 >> Oh boy, it's a tough group. Um, 2:29:48 I'm a lot better on Zoom. 2:29:51 Um I spent a lot of my time um kind of 2:29:55 looking out from this group to help 2:29:58 organize new people to kind of help 2:30:00 people um you know just organize their 2:30:02 their their workplaces and and um I have 2:30:06 some words to say kind of like looking 2:30:08 back into this group and I think there's 2:30:09 some things that I want to talk about. 2:30:10 Um I mean part of my job is external 2:30:13 organizing the other part is supposedly 2:30:15 internal organizing and I don't know 2:30:16 that I really do a whole lot of that. 2:30:19 Um, I'd like to do more. Um, but the 2:30:22 notes I prepared kind of kind of have me 2:30:24 reflecting back on our group a little 2:30:26 bit and maybe from my own kind of 2:30:28 philosophical perspective and and maybe 2:30:29 more as a member than than an organizer 2:30:32 in a way. So, I thought a lot about what 2:30:34 I would want to say to this group given 2:30:36 the chance and and and this is kind of 2:30:37 where I ended up. So, hang on. 2:30:41 Uh, organizing is asking fundamentally, 2:30:45 but asking is never just a request. 2:30:48 It's more of a structure test. 2:30:51 In organizing, structural tests are used 2:30:53 to kind of assess where a group is and 2:30:55 nudge them along like just one step 2:30:57 forward. 2:30:59 So today I want to present an ask to 2:31:02 this union which is to say a structural 2:31:04 test. 2:31:07 The ask is is that I believe as an 2:31:09 organizer and a proud member of this 2:31:10 union, we need to further democratize 2:31:13 this space. 2:31:16 Whatever motivated the original 2:31:17 formation of your unit or your 2:31:19 activation, whether it be pay or safety, 2:31:22 a distant manager or shitty uniform, 2:31:25 fundamentally, 2:31:27 we are all challenging and calling into 2:31:30 question the legitimacy of hierarchies 2:31:32 in our lives. 2:31:35 No one here voted for their boss or is 2:31:38 consulted about the future of their 2:31:39 workplace. 2:31:41 Hell, even to say that out loud kind of 2:31:43 sounds silly. I mean, of course you 2:31:44 weren't. That's not how things work. 2:31:48 But in the words of my kids, why 2:31:55 why in a country and in a culture that 2:31:58 so loudly exalts freedom and democracy 2:32:01 do we so easily and naturally surrender 2:32:04 both when we clock in. 2:32:08 Our unions are our first step in 2:32:10 confronting and challenging that 2:32:11 contradiction. And once we get we be 2:32:14 once we begin to disassemble and diffuse 2:32:17 these power structures, the tendency is 2:32:19 to keep going. 2:32:22 In that spirit, I ask that we all remain 2:32:25 critical and vigilant in regards to the 2:32:27 structures of power and hierarchy we 2:32:30 allow into our union. And we demand that 2:32:32 all such structures in our lives 2:32:36 be constantly tested for legitimacy. 2:32:40 So in this space, which is our space, we 2:32:43 should seek out and cultivate liberatory 2:32:46 practices that honor the individuality 2:32:48 of each member while also building 2:32:51 trust, solidarity, and community that 2:32:54 will carry us forward in this fight. 2:32:57 We should be wary of any tendency to 2:33:00 replace one distant, unaccountable power 2:33:02 structure with a similar parallel seat 2:33:05 of authority. 2:33:08 We as members need to help steer this 2:33:10 union to better reflect the world we 2:33:12 want to live in. 2:33:15 In the historical tradition of liberator 2:33:17 liberatory socialism, otherwise known as 2:33:19 anarchism, this idea is called 2:33:21 prefigurative politics. 2:33:24 Prefigurative politics is when we as 2:33:26 unionists embody our desired future of 2:33:28 society in our present day 2:33:30 organizations, our relationships, and 2:33:32 our everyday practices. 2:33:35 In other words, we build a new world 2:33:37 within the shell of the old. 2:33:41 Notable historical examples of which can 2:33:43 be found amongst the Zapatistas in 2:33:45 southern Mexico in Rojava in the 2:33:48 northeast Syria and the global occupy 2:33:50 movement of the early 2010s. 2:33:53 None of this should be seen as a 2:33:54 critique of Max or any executive 2:33:57 committee or president. I have no 2:33:59 specific prescriptions that we should 2:34:01 implement as gospel. 2:34:04 What this may look like though is to 2:34:07 move beyond representative or even 2:34:08 direct direct democracy to methods that 2:34:10 build mutual understanding instead of 2:34:12 winners and losers. 2:34:15 Educating each member to fully exercise 2:34:17 their voice while also reminding them 2:34:19 that deep listening often accomplishes 2:34:22 more than rigid entrenched opinions. 2:34:26 Structurally, it could mean just taking 2:34:28 more decisions to the membership, even 2:34:30 if that decision takes longer. 2:34:33 And if we feel the need to implement 2:34:35 collections of power, whether that be in 2:34:38 the individual or in bylaws, we remain 2:34:40 cognizant of when that centralized power 2:34:42 is no longer useful and should return it 2:34:44 from where it came. 2:34:47 This requires a committed and engaged 2:34:50 membership and that's where the real 2:34:52 work lies outside of proclamations and 2:34:55 mission statements. Our union is not and 2:34:59 should never be static and should go 2:35:01 undergo continual rebirth, refinement, 2:35:04 and the occasional revolution. 2:35:07 I hope these remarks, as short as 2:35:09 they've been, again, aren't seen as a 2:35:11 critique or a prescription, but as a 2:35:13 catalyst for conversation and 2:35:15 exploration, and I look forward to both 2:35:18 with each of you. Thanks, guys. 2:35:41 It was you, right? 2:35:48 >> Hold on. Sorry. 2:35:52 If you don't say it into the mic, it 2:35:54 didn't happen. That's the rules. 2:35:57 >> I read uh an author asked two questions, 2:36:00 and I'd like you to answer them in the 2:36:02 context of what you just said. 2:36:05 A million people believe this to be so. 2:36:09 My experience tells me it's wrong. Oh, 2:36:12 really? 2:36:14 A million people think this is wrong, 2:36:17 and I'm sure that it's right. 2:36:20 Oh, really? 2:36:22 What you have suggested sounds really 2:36:25 great. We use our collective 2:36:28 understanding of our situations to mold 2:36:31 and guide our union. 2:36:34 But what makes 1100 of us right when you 2:36:38 when you've researched the whatever very 2:36:40 carefully and understand that A, B, C, 2:36:44 and D are facing us. 2:36:47 I don't want to automatically 2:36:51 toss out your efforts and say,00 of us 2:36:54 can vote say no don't do that or do do 2:36:58 that. 2:36:59 If you understood my point, please speak 2:37:02 to it. 2:37:06 >> Those two 2:37:13 research. 2:37:17 >> I don't know if I have an answer 2:37:18 directly to that, but I think it it it 2:37:20 makes me think of a particular tyranny 2:37:24 that can be democratic, 2:37:28 right? You can vote in a tyrannical 2:37:30 situation. 2:37:33 Exactly. Um, 2:37:36 and I think that's fundamentally part of 2:37:39 the critique here is that there is 2:37:42 freedom beyond democracy. 2:37:46 One one person, one vote gets us 2:37:48 somewhere, but I don't think it gets us 2:37:51 to exactly where we can go. And I think 2:37:55 relying on 2:37:57 argument and counterargument and 2:38:00 persuasiveness and and entrenchment can 2:38:02 only get us so far. And at least there's 2:38:05 a common experience amongst us to build 2:38:09 a community of 2:38:15 a vulnerability 2:38:17 to each other so that we can honestly 2:38:20 hear each other. 2:38:22 I I've tried in my organizing to take on 2:38:25 the uh idea of deep listening. What does 2:38:28 that mean? Like to to really listen to 2:38:30 somebody, not just wait for your turn to 2:38:32 speak. 2:38:34 and to really try to understand where 2:38:36 they are. They're they're in organizing, 2:38:38 we we go through the the one, twos, and 2:38:40 threes, right? The ones are easy. The 2:38:42 twos are hard. Threes are are someone 2:38:45 you're never going to convince. And and 2:38:47 it's easy to dismiss the threes or the 2:38:49 reds or whatever you want to call them 2:38:50 in the organizing campaign. But 2:38:53 truthfully, like our our entire success 2:38:56 relies on that person. They don't have 2:38:59 to be a member, but we need their voice. 2:39:01 need to understand their critique and 2:39:02 where it comes from. Not to dismiss it, 2:39:05 but just to continue to understand it, 2:39:07 dig deeper. 2:39:08 So, I I don't I don't know if that 2:39:11 answered your question, but at least 2:39:12 made me think of something. 2:39:17 >> Thank you. Appreciate that. Didn't know 2:39:20 it was Q&A, but anybody else? 2:39:24 >> Thanks, 2:39:34 Thanks, Ryan. Um, that was awesome. 2:39:37 Thanks for the question, Lowry. Um, 2:39:41 as you guys know, we're live streaming. 2:39:42 That's the reason we're going to pass 2:39:44 this around, not to save people's voice 2:39:46 boxes. 2:39:52 Um, up next we've got Blake. 2:39:55 Um Blake's a Blake's a big sky patroller 2:39:58 and and Blake has been our treasurer for 2:40:00 the last year and honestly thank 2:40:04 goodness for that. Um the the work that 2:40:08 we've been able to do has been great. 2:40:10 And what has been most important to me 2:40:15 is 2:40:16 the cander and and honesty and 2:40:23 humility that Blake approaches this 2:40:26 position with. I think that when when 2:40:30 Blake speaks from his position, he 2:40:37 wears and recognizes the weight of 2:40:40 representing 2:40:42 so many people from so many different 2:40:44 backgrounds that many of which, you 2:40:47 know, the m the vast majority of which 2:40:50 we've never met. and and trying to put 2:40:53 ourselves into the shoes of the members 2:40:55 and do what's right 2:40:58 for everyone. Um, from 2:41:02 from a rookie in a new unit to the 2:41:06 oldest head in the oldest unit. And 2:41:11 yeah, I just I I respect Blake so much 2:41:14 for the way that he approaches this job 2:41:17 and the way that he just approaches 2:41:19 responsibility. 2:41:21 And 2:41:23 you know, Blake's not going to run to be 2:41:24 the treasurer again. And uh while I'll 2:41:27 try and convince him until the last day 2:41:30 of nominations to change his mind, um 2:41:33 what I do know is that as long as we 2:41:35 have Blake as a member, 2:41:39 uh we need to cherish that and take 2:41:42 advantage of that because Blake has 2:41:44 something really special to give this 2:41:46 union and and I just really appreciate 2:41:49 being able to to be witness to it and to 2:41:52 benefit from it. And so with that, 2:41:54 Blake, come on up. 2:42:05 >> I don't think I've ever got like an 2:42:07 introduction. And that was a pretty 2:42:09 pretty good one. 2:42:12 It's really sentimental. That was really 2:42:14 sweet. 2:42:15 Um, 2:42:17 yeah, I'm from Big Sky. I'm your 2:42:18 treasurer. I'm the vice president at Big 2:42:20 Sky. I I have a ton of crazy stuff to 2:42:23 say. I feel like I have so much to learn 2:42:25 at this stage in my like union 2:42:27 engagement, but I was thinking of a few 2:42:29 things and most of them are sourced from 2:42:32 random things Ryan said throughout me 2:42:34 knowing him, which is awesome. It's just 2:42:35 kind of like a a wealth of knowledge. I 2:42:38 think we have a lot to glean off Ryan 2:42:39 Denine. Um, but like from my brief 2:42:43 experience with Big Sky in the last five 2:42:45 years, 2:42:47 and it's not a unique story at all, but 2:42:50 you can see how profound of an impact 2:42:52 the union's had and it's obvious in so 2:42:55 many ways and it's so grateful and I 2:42:57 think I'm so grateful for it and I think 2:42:59 it work is worth repeating and 2:43:01 recognizing like every time we can but 2:43:03 like with Big Sky obviously our wages 2:43:05 are just so much better you know we have 2:43:07 such better job security we have such 2:43:09 better representation we have a 2:43:11 healthcare stipen which means so much to 2:43:12 our patrollers and seasonal workers 2:43:16 and it's a big [ __ ] deal and it's 2:43:18 changed I think it's changed our 2:43:20 experience and seniority so much in our 2:43:23 culture a bit on patrol. Um like our 2:43:26 retention rates are just phenomenal at 2:43:28 Big Sky right now and like when I got a 2:43:30 job there five years ago it was it was 2:43:33 easy to get a job frankly and today I 2:43:36 could not get a job at Big Sky 2:43:39 um like we'll have 50 people apply for 2:43:41 five positions 2:43:43 and it's been like that for a few years 2:43:44 and that's just that's just because the 2:43:47 union 2:43:48 and it's [ __ ] awesome. 2:43:50 So like the at Big Sky and I'm sure you 2:43:52 guys know too just the professionalism 2:43:54 and the experience we've gotten from the 2:43:56 union's outstanding and I think 2:44:00 one reason at the unit level we've been 2:44:01 able to do that so well and one reason 2:44:03 we're good at organizing and unionizing 2:44:07 in this industry is because 2:44:10 we have such amazing communities on the 2:44:12 unit level and like our patrol teams and 2:44:14 our lift maintenance teams. It's I mean 2:44:16 it's phenomenal. And I think the reason 2:44:19 I love ski patrolling 2:44:22 is not only because of the medical work, 2:44:24 which is awesome, and [ __ ] throwing 2:44:25 explosives and doing avalanche work and 2:44:28 powder skiing, which is amazing, but I 2:44:30 can't imagine any other workplace where 2:44:33 I know 120 people and I know them 2:44:36 intimately and I know their stories and 2:44:38 their kids and their history and their 2:44:40 experience and what they do in the 2:44:41 summer and like their thought process 2:44:44 and how they approach avalanches 2:44:48 It's just it's just amazing how we know 2:44:50 like our whole team so well and yeah I 2:44:54 can't think of any other workplace 2:44:57 that that compares and I think that's 2:44:59 our strongest skill and I think that's 2:45:01 why we've been able to make those wins 2:45:04 on the unit level and we've been able to 2:45:06 get good contracts and and I think 2:45:08 there's a long and bright future of 2:45:10 continuing to do that. Um I think 2:45:14 this this is reminds me of something 2:45:16 Denine said at our last meeting a month 2:45:19 ago and he said, and I'm gonna probably 2:45:20 misquote him when I quote Denine, but I 2:45:23 think he said, "Socialize before you 2:45:25 organize and organize before you 2:45:27 unionize." 2:45:28 What' you say? 2:45:31 Socialize before everything. 2:45:34 Everything. 2:45:36 And that's that's what we do at the unit 2:45:38 level. We socialize. We know each other 2:45:41 far more than just giving each other 2:45:43 like a union ask. We know each other. so 2:45:46 much and we know what everyone wants 2:45:48 from their life and where they're from. 2:45:51 And I think that's one of the biggest 2:45:54 places we can grow too on the local 2:45:55 level because it's just a such a sharp 2:45:58 dichotomy. Like we know our units, we 2:46:01 know our team so well, but I don't 2:46:03 really know you guys that well, you 2:46:05 know, 2:46:06 and I would love to know you guys 2:46:07 better. And I think that's something we 2:46:10 can work on. We're going to continue 2:46:11 working on. And you know, we did a river 2:46:14 trip earlier this summer on the San 2:46:16 Juan. Drink some water. 2:46:21 And um Max organized it and we got a 2:46:24 great opportunity to go on the San Juan 2:46:26 with a ton of ski patrollers. And Max 2:46:28 was really intentional about calling it 2:46:29 our first annual. 2:46:32 And that was really important to me 2:46:33 because like we got to do that year 2:46:35 after year and we got to do more stuff 2:46:37 like that. But we went on that trip and 2:46:39 we just [ __ ] we socialized and that's 2:46:42 we're really good at doing that. So 2:46:44 that's good because that's the most 2:46:46 important thing. But we just hung out 2:46:47 and we got to know each other and we 2:46:49 enjoy the river. We drank beers and 2:46:53 we just got to keep doing more of that 2:46:54 and it was just so amazing. And I think 2:46:56 that is is like the foundation of our 2:46:59 future and the foundation of us as a 2:47:00 local becoming stronger together. 2:47:03 And I also think that that is, you know, 2:47:07 we have here. Um, not only do we have 2:47:11 some of these talks which are great and 2:47:12 we have the workshops which are great 2:47:14 and we're learning some explicit skills 2:47:16 about organizing, but we also just get 2:47:19 to hang out and we get to know each 2:47:20 other's names and see each other in 2:47:22 person. We get to drink beers and we get 2:47:25 to party tonight which is awesome. 2:47:29 And so I think this is an opportunity to 2:47:31 do one of the most important things we 2:47:33 can do and one of the things we're best 2:47:35 at which is just socialize and hang out 2:47:37 and get to know each other. 2:47:40 And I think if we're able to do that, 2:47:43 we can do all the other things and we 2:47:45 can have the solidarity and have the 2:47:47 community. And then this does remind me 2:47:49 of another thing Ryan Denine said while 2:47:50 he was on that river trip and he was 2:47:52 just, you know, on the raft underneath 2:47:54 the canopy drinking his beer just 2:47:56 daydreaming about radicalizing the world 2:48:00 one person at a time. But and it sounds 2:48:03 a little corny and cliche, but he was 2:48:05 like, you know, together we can do we 2:48:08 can do anything. 2:48:10 Together we can do anything. 2:48:13 And it does sound a little cliche, but 2:48:15 like 2:48:17 It's really It's really true. Like we 2:48:19 really have that strong solidarity and 2:48:22 if we really have everyone 2:48:24 we can do some amazing phenomenal 2:48:27 things. Um and there's a lot of examples 2:48:31 of that in labor history. 2:48:34 And uh I think that's something we can 2:48:36 do and we will do. Um, so I guess my 2:48:39 call to action 2:48:41 is to party tonight 2:48:44 and just get to know each other and then 2:48:48 more specifically, I guess I didn't talk 2:48:49 about it, but I think 2:48:52 maybe before you give any like union 2:48:54 ask, we talked about asking somebody to 2:48:56 do a specific thing. Before you do that 2:48:58 with somebody, I think it's really 2:49:00 important you know that person 2:49:03 and you socialize with them. You know 2:49:05 what they want. You know their dreams 2:49:07 and not just you know what's going on in 2:49:10 their workplace or what's shitty for 2:49:11 them right then or what maybe they can 2:49:13 do for you or the union but just like 2:49:15 their story generally and you socialize 2:49:18 with them because I think that is yeah 2:49:21 as Denine said the other other day I 2:49:23 think that is the foundation. 2:49:46 That was awesome. Thanks, Blake. 2:49:56 >> Um, sweet. Going down the line of of 2:49:58 heavy hitters here, our next speaker is 2:50:00 Gary Jordan. 2:50:02 Um, I've known Gary for 2:50:05 seven or eight years at this point, I 2:50:07 think. And, um, Gary's been working for 2:50:13 this local as well as other locals in 2:50:16 CWA District 7 for as long as I've been 2:50:19 a member. Um, 2:50:22 Gary is, I'm sure, a mentor to many of 2:50:25 you and and goes without saying, a 2:50:28 mentor to me. um what Gary has done for 2:50:34 this local can't just be quantified 2:50:38 because 2:50:41 you know one day you're learning how to 2:50:44 collectively bargain from Gary and the 2:50:46 next day he's saying some hilarious 2:50:50 witty southern phrase that actually 2:50:54 teaches you how to live your life as a 2:50:55 better person 2:50:57 and you don't realize it until you get 2:50:59 home 2:51:00 Um, 2:51:02 uh, just the the depth of what you can 2:51:05 get from Gary Jordan in in the time that 2:51:10 you're able to spend with him is 2:51:11 something that should be valued. Um, he 2:51:14 gave us a little scare earlier this 2:51:16 summer, 2:51:19 but luckily his wife took away his 2:51:21 motorcycle and 2:51:25 and he's here on his two feet. 2:51:29 Uh, without further ado, Gary Jordan, 2:51:31 everybody. 2:51:45 Hi everyone. Um, I'm always really 2:51:48 honored to be here. Um, 2:51:51 really honored to be amongst patrol, but 2:51:54 I'm always really honored to be amongst 2:51:56 union people like this. This is the 2:51:58 first time you've ever come to this. I 2:52:00 strongly encourage you to come back. 2:52:01 There's a whole lot of things that you 2:52:03 will deal with throughout the year that 2:52:06 drain that battery. Like we all know if 2:52:08 we get a Sometimes we don't know a 2:52:11 piranha bit us that you get those 2:52:13 piranha bites and they start to 2:52:15 accumulate. But then you come here and 2:52:17 it's like a miracle healing. All my 2:52:18 piranha bites I can feel them going away 2:52:21 because you're amongst people that you 2:52:23 know 2:52:25 hear the same [ __ ] you do from their 2:52:28 management of course but also from their 2:52:30 members. Many of you have heard me say I 2:52:32 love unions but sometimes union members 2:52:35 not so much. uh because they have a lot 2:52:38 of expectation for from people who 2:52:40 volunteer their time. Um but simply put, 2:52:44 it just doesn't work if you guys don't. 2:52:45 And so um all of us know, especially in 2:52:49 this day and age, you don't have to look 2:52:51 very far to find someone who [ __ ] 2:52:53 about everything. Everything. 2:52:56 Sometimes that person's mean, but you 2:52:58 have to look long and hard to find 2:53:00 people that will get off their ass and 2:53:01 do something about it. But from right 2:53:03 here, this unique POV, I don't have to 2:53:05 look very hard. Every one of you did 2:53:07 that. And to me, um, you should be proud 2:53:10 of that to stand up for workers. 2:53:14 Uh, a little bit about me because some 2:53:16 of you know, and I don't want to be 2:53:17 repetitive, but I grew up in the South, 2:53:19 really poor. Um, and I mean, I thought 2:53:22 everyone was poor and and then I 2:53:24 realized, wait a minute, not everyone's 2:53:26 poor. 2:53:28 Um, why 2:53:30 doesn't seem fair. 2:53:33 Um, 2:53:34 and then fast forward 2:53:37 around 50 years and earlier this week, I 2:53:40 got shown pictures of a wedding that was 2:53:42 held at the top of Aspen. Yeah, this 2:53:44 Aspen over here with 560 guests. 2:53:49 I don't begrudge anybody. I assume that 2:53:52 person made all their money ethically 2:53:54 and didn't exploit any workers. I have 2:53:57 to think that there was a $150,000 2:54:01 worth of flowers there. And my 2:54:03 tangential friend who went there, you 2:54:05 know, he knows this guy, he's a personal 2:54:08 trainer for this guy and this guy's 2:54:09 flown him to this or flown him to that 2:54:12 on the jet. As long as that exists, we 2:54:15 should not have people living in a damn 2:54:16 thing or living like you have to live in 2:54:19 a dormatory. We're not asking for too 2:54:22 much, but they constantly think it's too 2:54:23 much. I distinctly remember steamboat 2:54:26 many years ago and they were crying over 2:54:29 50 cents. The [ __ ] helicopter they 2:54:31 just said was $4,000 an hour carrying 2:54:34 [ __ ] I was like, "Hold on. I know 2:54:35 you're broke. I can't hear you over the 2:54:37 $4,000 an hour helicopter." So, I mean, 2:54:39 my point is there's plenty enough money, 2:54:41 but they want to convince us that 2:54:43 there's not. And so, to ask for your 2:54:45 fair share is not asking for too much. 2:54:47 Um, 2:54:51 every dollar you earn, I mean, I think 2:54:53 somehow we got tricked in this country. 2:54:55 I'm glad I got a job. They gave me a 2:54:57 job. Give you [ __ ] They gave you an 2:55:00 opportunity to make money for them. 2:55:02 That's it. And they're paying you the 2:55:04 least they can get by with I mean 2:55:07 there's more college degrees in here 2:55:09 than I have and you guys all know 2:55:10 economics. That's how it works. Uh and 2:55:13 so I think we got to we got to press we 2:55:15 got to press them. Um I think we're 2:55:17 blessed with some really really good 2:55:18 leaders here. But just know leadership 2:55:20 in this is really hard. It's really 2:55:23 hard. Um, these kinds of things will 2:55:26 will build you up, but sometimes you 2:55:27 need to take a step back. Your personal 2:55:29 health, your mental health is more 2:55:30 important than any of this. But I will 2:55:32 rag you mercilessly if you quit without 2:55:34 naming a replacement. I'm just telling 2:55:36 you right now. That's dirty pool. You 2:55:38 got to find me somebody, somebody to 2:55:40 step up. But keep your eye out. Those 2:55:42 people are everywhere. When you 2:55:43 intentionally look for them, you will 2:55:44 see them. And that is the one key way 2:55:47 that I've seen you make this work easier 2:55:48 for yourself is you start bringing more 2:55:50 people in. We really are better. we get 2:55:53 a POV from everybody, even if you kind 2:55:56 of don't like it. Um, I think it m it 2:55:59 makes us better. And thinking about like 2:56:02 what Ryan said and what Max said, I 2:56:05 think this all starts with care for 2:56:07 people. Everyone in this room cares for 2:56:08 people. Everyone Everyone on that side 2:56:11 of the podium. Did you guys seriously 2:56:13 think I would put myself at risk to save 2:56:15 one of these rich [ __ ] I'd let 2:56:17 them code out and ski right by if I can 2:56:18 get around, but you guys will all do 2:56:20 that. I'm not doing it. I've I've been 2:56:23 mistreated by him too much and I don't 2:56:25 care for him and I know it's not all of 2:56:26 them. Um but it's 2:56:30 mostly um so I mean I I think hang in 2:56:33 there, encourage one another, lean on 2:56:34 one another. I one of the things I 2:56:37 wanted to do when I first got this 2:56:38 assignment was um everywhere I would go 2:56:42 and there were only four units. Think 2:56:44 about that. 2016 we'll have four units 2:56:46 and I didn't think we were going to have 2:56:48 a steamboat very long. I thought it was 2:56:50 on the way out. That person who handed 2:56:51 over to me said, "Yeah, they're barely 2:56:52 hanging on." And when I met the people 2:56:54 that were uh running the union up there, 2:56:57 and I was like, "Yeah, we are barely 2:56:58 hanging on." But what they have now uh 2:57:01 what they have now parallels anything. I 2:57:03 mean, they get [ __ ] done. They get [ __ ] 2:57:04 from management. They they give it to 2:57:06 management. And so, anything can be 2:57:08 turned around. Um but I remember like 2:57:12 they were dealing with something and um 2:57:15 Breck had organized at that time. So, we 2:57:17 were up to five and I was like, you 2:57:20 guys, they're dealing with this right 2:57:22 over like literally right over there. 2:57:24 It's two hours, but it seemed like they 2:57:26 might as well have been in South 2:57:27 America. And now it's gone to this. And 2:57:30 there's real power in this um real 2:57:33 power. They're always working, 2:57:35 especially all the veil people. Sorry to 2:57:37 make this veil centric, but um they're 2:57:40 doing things at all their resorts so 2:57:41 they think they can get ready that by 2:57:43 God, we won't be caught off guard on 2:57:45 another strike. we know they will, but 2:57:47 they think they don't and they're 2:57:48 spending a lot of money that they they 2:57:49 could simply just 2:57:52 put in the contract. You know, there's 2:57:55 another way to do that. And so, uh, I 2:57:57 think what my point is, they're ongoing 2:57:59 trying to figure out how to how to push 2:58:01 against us. We have to continuously 2:58:03 think about ways to push against them. 2:58:06 Uh, and I'll close with this. I mean, I 2:58:07 think I I kind of do love quotes, and 2:58:10 I'll mess this up, but you get the idea. 2:58:12 Like people don't really care what you 2:58:14 know until they know how much you care 2:58:15 about them. And if you if you start one 2:58:17 of those dean conversations with 2:58:19 somebody and you really care about them 2:58:20 and you want to find out about them, 2:58:22 what they're suffering through, what 2:58:23 they're what they're delighting in, um 2:58:26 you're about to get yourself a really 2:58:27 strong union member that will be there 2:58:29 with you all the time. And so, thank you 2:58:31 all for all you do. Thank you for doing 2:58:32 this. I encourage you to bring rank and 2:58:34 file people to this. Uh, every one of 2:58:37 these I've ever been to, union speaking, 2:58:40 not patrol and maintenance speaking, uh, 2:58:42 it's it it's recharging and it's 2:58:44 invigorating. So, thank you for stepping 2:58:46 up. Thank you for caring about each 2:58:47 other and thank you for raising the 2:58:49 standard for workers and the Jackson 2:58:50 patrollers, thank you for their raise 2:58:52 that you guys got for them. You did it. 2:58:54 I told a few of you outside and there's 2:58:56 no other [ __ ] way to look at it. U, 2:58:59 they were about to they were about to 2:59:01 take the same steps you took and the 2:59:03 billionaires bought them off. That 2:59:05 wouldn't have happened if that weren't 2:59:07 for the successes in this room. And so 2:59:09 when you see them, tell them they're 2:59:10 welcome. Tell them I said hi and tell 2:59:12 them they're still welcome in this next 2:59:14 time. But that's why it's simple as 2:59:16 that. So, thank you all. 2:59:39 You don't know what I'm thinking about. 2:59:55 >> Definitely. Gary, don't crash your bike 2:59:58 again. We'll go broke. 3:00:05 What's the joke about Jackson Hole ski 3:00:07 patrollers that they'll they'll tell you 3:00:09 all about it or something? 3:00:21 Awesome. And um just like glad that 3:00:24 you're here with us, you know. Um this 3:00:27 is such like a I I come into this work 3:00:30 thinking very like solely about the 3:00:33 members. Uh sometimes to my own 3:00:36 detriment like when I forgot to call 3:00:40 Gary to make sure that this was on his 3:00:42 calendar and he knew that he had to 3:00:43 speak and stuff like that, you know. Um, 3:00:47 and so I just really appreciate the 3:00:48 flexibility and you being up here today, 3:00:51 Gary. 3:00:53 Um, 3:00:56 our next speaker is Travis Brown. 3:01:00 And Travis is the president at Steamboat 3:01:02 Ski Patrol. 3:01:04 And you know, I feel like Travis and I 3:01:09 jumped into this work at right about the 3:01:12 same time. uh as far as working on the 3:01:15 local executive board and kind of being 3:01:17 two feet in the water with it. And it's 3:01:22 really like it's been a hell of a 3:01:23 journey that we've been able to take in 3:01:26 together and we've seen 3:01:28 folks come and go and you know there 3:01:30 there's a number of us that have that 3:01:32 have been here for this duration and it 3:01:34 has started to feel like this kind of 3:01:36 small tribe of us. Um, 3:01:40 and 3:01:42 what you know, there's a lot of things 3:01:45 to value about Travis. He's he's an 3:01:47 excellent leader. He's an excellent 3:01:49 representative of his members. He 3:01:54 is professional, appropriate, firm, 3:01:58 polite. like he he he is the total 3:02:00 package for someone that you would want 3:02:03 to have leading 3:02:05 you into into a battle the the scope of 3:02:08 the one that we're in with this 3:02:10 industry. Um, 3:02:13 additionally, when Travis opens his 3:02:15 mouth, everybody listens. And like we 3:02:18 talk a lot about, you know, in 3:02:20 organizing, there's there's organic 3:02:22 leaders. There's there's people who like 3:02:25 if you if you want to organize this 3:02:26 group of people, you better get that 3:02:28 one, right? And Travis is that one. Um I 3:02:33 have a profound amount of respect for 3:02:35 Travis and the work that he does. And 3:02:39 there's there's very few there's a 3:02:41 select group of people that I go to with 3:02:43 my ideas when I'm 3:02:46 feeling a little isolated with them and 3:02:48 need someone to bounce them off of. and 3:02:50 and Travis is definitely on that list 3:02:52 and and I keep that list tight. Um 3:02:57 yeah, Travis, it's just been a real 3:02:58 pleasure these last three years and I'm 3:03:00 just really excited to give you the 3:03:02 stage. Uh you know, we Ryan and I talked 3:03:05 about it. We were like, should we just 3:03:07 give Travis like 15 minutes? I was like, 3:03:10 hell yeah. I've never heard a better 3:03:12 idea. 3:03:14 And so whatever you're going to do with 3:03:16 your time, Travis, um I I have complete 3:03:19 faith that we are all going to listen 3:03:21 and it's going to be amazing. Uh without 3:03:23 further ado, Travis Brown. 3:03:35 >> Thank you, Max. Very kind words. Uh 3:03:38 that's it's funny that you said I can do 3:03:39 whatever I want with my time because 3:03:40 I've been joking for the past two days. 3:03:42 I'm just going to walk up here with an 3:03:43 AK-47 and start spraying, you know. Um, 3:03:50 I might be the only one in this room who 3:03:52 possibly is more radical than Denine. 3:03:55 Um, I also I want to say I loved what 3:03:59 Blake had to say. Let's just drink beer. 3:04:01 That'll solve all our problems. 3:04:04 Also, did you see a shirt? That's a 3:04:06 killer shirt. Um, 3:04:09 I want to make an announcement first. 3:04:11 Uh, Steamboat is gonna host an a post 3:04:14 party at our condo this afternoon or 3:04:17 sorry, this evening. You have to be 3:04:18 carrying a toaster to get in. And 3:04:22 if you don't know what that means, ask 3:04:24 somebody who was at our convention last 3:04:26 year or you can ask me and I'll happily 3:04:28 tell you the story. That's actually a 3:04:30 joke. We're not 3:04:31 >> Yeah, 3:04:33 that's a joke. We are not having a party 3:04:35 because we're going to be in Fris. Our 3:04:36 condo is in Breck. But if you guys want 3:04:38 to Well, Adam wants to have a party, so 3:04:39 we can have a party. 3:04:41 Um, so if you find yourself in Breck 3:04:43 late at night, uh, let us know. Uh, 3:04:46 before I start saying all the things I 3:04:48 want to say, I just want to talk for a 3:04:49 moment about how [ __ ] rad was Jade. 3:04:54 Um, Jade was at the COPE convention that 3:04:58 I'm going to talk about and she was a 3:05:02 wrecking ball. She took that that thing 3:05:04 apart and destroyed it before the United 3:05:08 Electrical workers knew what the hell 3:05:10 was happening. And you know, she was 3:05:12 pissed honestly about the lack of 3:05:15 support that some of our de democratic 3:05:17 representatives are giving us. and she 3:05:20 was so pissed that she uh suggested that 3:05:24 we endorse this crazy Republican 3:05:29 representative from South Colorado who I 3:05:31 I [ __ ] you not his picture on his 3:05:33 website is him with an M16 and like you 3:05:36 know this guy is going to do everything 3:05:37 in his power with his M16 to take away 3:05:40 her rights you know but she was standing 3:05:42 up there and saying let's endorse this 3:05:44 guy because he did vote for worker 3:05:45 rights right he did vote for bills that 3:05:49 some of our Democratic legisl uh 3:05:52 legislative members did not. And that's 3:05:55 that. So, she was, you know, standing 3:05:57 there kind of carrying a message of like 3:05:58 we need to hold these people 3:05:59 accountable. And it was awesome to hear 3:06:02 her speak again today and I was just 3:06:03 blown away. I want to like bottle that 3:06:05 energy and fury that she has and make us 3:06:08 all do a shot because, you know, that's 3:06:10 that's that's how I feel a lot of the 3:06:12 time. Um, so, uh, I'll just say thanks 3:06:15 for the opportunity, particularly Max 3:06:17 and Ryan for giving me an opportunity to 3:06:19 talk up here. Um, I'm going to talk to 3:06:21 you guys, um, about how awesome it was 3:06:24 to be a delegate, uh, at the, uh, AFL 3:06:27 CIO Coke convention a few weeks ago. Uh, 3:06:31 I got to go there with Rob. If you guys 3:06:33 don't know Rob from Cresbute Lift 3:06:34 Maintenance, he is a gem. He's got a 3:06:36 better beard than me. He's becoming an 3:06:38 uncle today. He loves trains. Get to 3:06:40 know Rob. 3:06:43 Um, all right. So, before I start 3:06:45 talking about that convention, I just 3:06:47 want to uh share some feelings I have 3:06:49 about what I have seen over the past 3:06:51 four years. Some of the stuff that Max 3:06:52 was talking about and what it's been 3:06:55 like for me as a representative and 3:06:57 learning about the 7781. Uh, when I was 3:07:00 elected to serve as a union rep, I 3:07:03 didn't even know that Steamboat Patrols 3:07:05 Union was part of a larger union. Not on 3:07:07 my radar at all. Right. Uh, I learned 3:07:10 about the 7781. I learned about the CWA 3:07:14 because, uh, our then president said, 3:07:16 "Hey, I'm going to Europe. You want to 3:07:19 attend these Zoom meetings for me?" And 3:07:20 I was like, "Yeah, okay." And that's 3:07:22 that's literally how I learned that this 3:07:25 whole thing exists, right? Had no idea. 3:07:29 So, I learned in those first several 3:07:31 meetings that we are members of a large 3:07:34 national union. And that's cool. You 3:07:36 know, that gives us way more power than 3:07:38 just being like, you know, it's a group 3:07:40 of us at Steamboat Ski Patrol. I learned 3:07:43 that we have brother and sister 3:07:44 patrollers across the West that are 3:07:46 engaged in the same struggle that we 3:07:47 were and it's all you guys, you know. I 3:07:50 learned that we were the United Ski 3:07:52 Patrollers of America. That's cool, you 3:07:54 know. And I also learned that we were in 3:07:57 a state of disarray. Um, it was kind of 3:08:01 scary what I found and what I learned 3:08:03 about when I started attending those 3:08:05 meetings. But, you know, it's wild to 3:08:07 think now and knowing everything that I 3:08:09 know and having partake in this for a 3:08:11 few years that I didn't even know that 3:08:12 this organization existed when I became 3:08:14 a union member. And so, I've worked 3:08:18 really hard to make sure that everybody 3:08:20 at Steamboat knows about this that we 3:08:22 have jokes. We have a supervisor who uh 3:08:25 he says um you know so he'll get up in a 3:08:28 morning meeting and he'll and we have a 3:08:30 count we'll do an overunder you know 3:08:32 eight and a half ums at Orion this 3:08:33 morning you know uh I believe there was 3:08:35 a count on me at our last union meeting 3:08:38 of how many times I was going to say 3:08:39 7781 3:08:41 um but that's you know it's trying to 3:08:43 push everybody into awareness of the 3:08:45 larger things that we are trying to do 3:08:48 um so 3:08:52 I learned that we were basically broke 3:08:55 and we were struggling with basic 3:08:57 functions at the local level in 7781, 3:09:00 right? And not only were our finances in 3:09:02 disarray, we also owed the CWA 3:09:04 significant amount of back dues. And 3:09:07 while the 7781 had grown during that 3:09:09 time, our ability to expand and recruit 3:09:11 was limited by our own internal 3:09:12 challenges. And uh it was not good. 3:09:17 That was the state of our world when I 3:09:19 was introduced to it. And I'm only 3:09:21 bringing this up in order Contrast how 3:09:23 far we've come. In my time as a 3:09:25 representative serving steamboats 3:09:27 patrol, we have added multiple ski and 3:09:28 bike patrols, lift maintenance 3:09:30 departments, and transformed into the 3:09:32 United Workers. You know, something 3:09:34 bigger than just ski patrol. We settled 3:09:36 our debts with the CWA. And since we've 3:09:40 not only turned our finances around, we 3:09:41 are now in a position to think about how 3:09:43 we can continue to grow and aggressively 3:09:45 expand our mission to other mountains 3:09:48 and possibly ensure that every one of us 3:09:49 can continue to live the life we dream 3:09:51 of. 3:09:52 that means a lot. 3:09:54 Uh it's these efforts that will allow us 3:09:56 to live that life while not only doing 3:09:58 work that fulfills our souls, but also 3:09:59 to thrive in in our mountain 3:10:01 communities. 3:10:03 We can continue expanding this fight and 3:10:05 maybe someday we might be able to give 3:10:08 every mountain worker the ability to 3:10:09 thrive in their community as well. And 3:10:11 this is within reach because of people 3:10:13 in this room. This is a testament to 3:10:15 people in this room. This is a testament 3:10:17 to their efforts to write the ship. This 3:10:20 is a testament to their efforts to fight 3:10:22 against corporate power within the ski 3:10:23 industry that has been congealing in the 3:10:25 form of Veil and Alterara. This is a 3:10:28 testament to everyone who has been 3:10:29 committed to this local over the past 5 3:10:31 years. This is a testament to the 3:10:33 individual units that have stepped up 3:10:35 like Park City. 3:10:38 You guys have led the way not only 3:10:39 forcing the industry forward through the 3:10:41 threat of and an actual strike, but also 3:10:43 for providing dedicated leadership both 3:10:45 at the unit and local level to push this 3:10:47 organ organization onward through its 3:10:49 most difficult times and into a brighter 3:10:51 future. 3:10:53 And well, future feels pretty bright. I 3:10:57 don't know if you guys feel that way. I 3:10:59 mean, you know, our country's [ __ ] 3:11:00 right now, but other than that feels 3:11:02 pretty good. 3:11:04 It feels like we are truly moving 3:11:05 mountains together. So, thank you for 3:11:08 allowing me to digress here for a moment 3:11:10 before I say what I'm really gonna say. 3:11:12 And this is what happens when you give 3:11:13 me the m the mic, Max. Uh, but I just 3:11:16 want to say thank you to those in in 3:11:18 this room that have led us to where we 3:11:19 are now. Thank you, Max. Seriously, 3:11:22 thank you. Thank you, Ryan. Uh, thank 3:11:25 you, Jackie, Anna Kendall, Andrew Py, 3:11:28 Gray Tampa. I wrote wherever you may be 3:11:30 because if you don't know Gray is was 3:11:32 Stephen's past president and and on the 3:11:34 like 7781 level it was like he vanished 3:11:37 into thin air. Gray was a staple at 3:11:40 every meeting. You like he would talk 3:11:42 and he'd talk and he had great points 3:11:44 and then he was just gone. But Evan 3:11:46 who's here from Steven's past 3:11:47 enlightened me that Graham is great and 3:11:49 doing well and I'm so happy to hear 3:11:50 that. And Evan is here from Steven's 3:11:52 past by himself. If you guys have not 3:11:54 had an opportunity to say hi to Evan. 3:11:56 you know, he doesn't know any of us, so 3:11:58 we can get to know him. Uh, okay. Thank 3:12:01 you, Kate Lips. Thank you, Gary. Thank 3:12:04 you, Gary. Uh, thank you to people like 3:12:06 Blake, Thomas Pman, Nick Lancing, Graham 3:12:10 Tellide. Sorry, Graham. I don't know 3:12:12 your last name. Uh, Connor Holt, Jamie 3:12:16 from White Vish, and so many other unit 3:12:18 representatives and individuals have 3:12:20 stepped up recently and are carrying us 3:12:22 forward. Thank you to every individual 3:12:24 from the patrols and maintenance crews 3:12:26 that we have added recently, 3:12:28 particularly those that put themselves 3:12:29 at risk and took the leap to join this 3:12:31 union. Thank you to Crested Butide and 3:12:34 Big Sky Patrols along with us, 3:12:37 Steamboat, they've they've been here 3:12:38 since before any of us were around, you 3:12:41 know, and so to be in this fight for 3:12:43 that long, it's awesome. And without 3:12:45 them, this organization would not have 3:12:47 blossomed in the ways it is today. And 3:12:50 uh you know, Gary, I hope we're doing an 3:12:52 okay job now at Steamboat trying to get 3:12:54 things back on track. 3:13:01 >> I'm actually from Pennsylvania, but I, 3:13:03 you know, I spent it, you know, I I my 3:13:06 parents had a a house at the beach in 3:13:07 New Jersey when I was growing up, so I 3:13:09 spent a ton of time there. My bad joke 3:13:10 about New Jersey is time spent in New 3:13:12 Jersey will count towards time you have 3:13:13 to spend in purgatory later. 3:13:18 Um, 3:13:20 so it was it was a true honor to 3:13:21 represent you guys and represent the 3:13:23 United Mountain Workers um at the AFL 3:13:27 CIO COPE convention. So what is a COPE 3:13:30 convention? Uh, even better than that, 3:13:32 what is the AFL CIO? So as members of 3:13:35 the CWA, we are affiliates of the 3:13:38 American Federation of Labor and the 3:13:40 Congress of Industrial Organization. If 3:13:43 you guys are unfamiliar, you are members 3:13:44 of this union. 3:13:46 Uh it is the largest union in the 3:13:48 nation. It's one of the oldest. Uh it's 3:13:51 composed of many constituent unions such 3:13:53 as our CWA, the International 3:13:55 Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, or 3:13:58 for instance, the Colorado Education 3:13:59 Association. You know, um that's the 3:14:03 teachers here in Colorado. Uh by 3:14:05 affiliating in one overarching union, we 3:14:07 represent thousands of workers and wield 3:14:09 tremendous influence on a state and 3:14:11 national level. So, the Colorado COPE 3:14:14 convention's purpose was to decide what 3:14:16 Colorado politicians and ballot 3:14:18 initiatives and amendments the AFL CIO 3:14:20 will endorse for this year's elections. 3:14:23 And those endor endorsements are 3:14:25 critical to politicians that want the 3:14:27 support of workers like us. It was uh it 3:14:29 was a big deal for them. And honestly, 3:14:31 it was it was a true uh grassroots 3:14:35 democratic process to partake in. You 3:14:38 know, a lot of different unions, a lot 3:14:39 of people from different backgrounds 3:14:40 coming together. Um, at one point I 3:14:43 think Rob and I were sitting at a table 3:14:44 full of cops. That's pretty awkward for 3:14:46 me, be honest, but they were super nice 3:14:48 people. Um, 3:14:51 the COPE convention was an opportunity 3:14:53 for our union to hold representatives in 3:14:55 Colorado accountable for their past 3:14:56 votes in the legislature, if only by 3:14:58 saying we support you or we do not 3:15:00 support your candidacy in this election. 3:15:03 It was a chance to withhold endorsements 3:15:05 from politicians who did not live up to 3:15:07 their word to protect workers by 3:15:08 engaging in things like taking money 3:15:11 unidentified corporate donors 3:15:14 and who boked at their chances to vote 3:15:16 in favor of legislation that protects 3:15:17 and improves the conditions for workers. 3:15:20 The convention was also an opportunity 3:15:22 for us, Rob and I, to spend some time 3:15:24 with our representatives and discuss the 3:15:26 issues that are facing us every day here 3:15:27 in the mountains. It was a chance to 3:15:30 say, "Yeah, 3:15:31 we ski and ride in some [ __ ] rad 3:15:33 places, but this [ __ ] is hard. 3:15:37 This life isn't always easy. it isn't 3:15:39 given to us and we earn it and we need 3:15:43 your help 3:15:45 and it felt really good to have powerful 3:15:49 ears to say that too. Uh and you know I 3:15:52 was surprised to learn that those ears 3:15:54 were listening. Uh they don't hear our 3:15:56 voices very often. We represent a voice 3:15:58 that is under reppresented in the halls 3:15:59 of power 3:16:01 and we are an organized group of 3:16:02 mountain workers that speaks for resort 3:16:04 and mount community employees that can 3:16:06 often be anonymous. a group that is 3:16:09 transient and voiceless. 3:16:12 And you know, they wanted to hear what 3:16:14 we had to say. They were curious to 3:16:16 learn about our experience, to learn 3:16:17 about our problems, about our issues, 3:16:20 and what they may be able to do to 3:16:22 affect our lives. 3:16:24 Um, so it taught me that our access to 3:16:28 change through political action is real, 3:16:31 that change is accessible, and it's 3:16:34 really only dependent on our commitment 3:16:36 and our dedication to reaching out and 3:16:39 influencing our representatives. 3:16:42 And in return, we can offer those reps 3:16:46 that ally with us an organized voice 3:16:48 supporting them. Um, we can be door 3:16:51 knockers. We can be the people calling 3:16:52 on the Right. 3:16:55 And so this gives us power 3:16:58 uh it gives us power to share our 3:17:00 experiences to inform those who create 3:17:02 our laws of the problems that we face 3:17:04 and to seek directly solutions to the 3:17:06 challenges of living in our mountain 3:17:07 communities. 3:17:10 We need to use this power 3:17:13 because the economic forces in mountain 3:17:15 communities are against us. The cost of 3:17:17 living is rising faster than our wages. 3:17:20 Purchasing a home in the towns where we 3:17:22 live, even a simple condo or starter 3:17:24 home is further now than pretty much 3:17:27 ever before. And the corporations that 3:17:29 we work for are reacting to our efforts 3:17:31 and strategizing on how to beat us. You 3:17:33 guys heard us beating this drum. And 3:17:35 they're working on how to keep our wages 3:17:37 and benefits as low as possible. Without 3:17:40 us working to fight against these 3:17:41 factors and without help from our 3:17:43 elected leaders, our future as workers 3:17:45 in our mountain towns is bleak. 3:17:47 a mountain worker's chances of making 3:17:49 our lifestyle work for their entire 3:17:51 lifetime feels slim, you know, and I 3:17:55 didn't write this down, but I'm looking 3:17:56 around the room and uh no offense Gary, 3:17:59 but besides Gary, maybe Jamie, I might 3:18:02 be the oldest person in here. And you 3:18:04 know what that says to me is just that 3:18:07 it's hard. It's hard. Like to choose to 3:18:10 be a ski patroller and do it for a long 3:18:12 time is hard. And 3:18:16 you know, I want every one of you guys 3:18:18 that if this is what you want to be able 3:18:20 to do for your life, you have the 3:18:22 opportunity to do that. 3:18:27 Here's the most powerful message 3:18:28 preached again and again at the 3:18:31 convention and it should empower all of 3:18:34 us. No one is coming to save us. 3:18:39 We hope for the good sold politician 3:18:41 that when elected will listen to us and 3:18:43 understand the issues we face, will 3:18:45 solve our problems, will write the 3:18:48 injustices we see happening in this 3:18:50 world, and will allow us to carry on 3:18:51 unmolested in our daily lives. But the 3:18:54 forces united against us are 3:18:56 overwhelming our political system. 3:18:59 Our polit our politics have skewed to 3:19:01 the right of the political spectrum. And 3:19:03 many of our supposed allies, Democrats 3:19:06 who claim to be concerned about and 3:19:08 fighting for workers, are now instead 3:19:10 allied with those corporate powers that 3:19:12 are inundating our professional and 3:19:13 personal lives. 3:19:15 We have to step up and fight for 3:19:17 ourselves. 3:19:19 If we are not each ready to do our part 3:19:21 to further our cause, it will be too 3:19:24 late. 3:19:26 Now is the time for each of us to think 3:19:28 of what we can do. And if not you, who 3:19:31 among you can you encourage and aid in 3:19:34 taking up the challenge of facing a 3:19:35 title wave of greed? 3:19:39 Be it running for your city council or 3:19:41 your county commission, even possibly 3:19:43 state representative or looking to do 3:19:45 more in your MW unit or to take on more 3:19:49 here in this local. It is time for each 3:19:52 of us to ask ourselves, what more can I 3:19:55 do to return quality and fair fair wages 3:19:58 to our society? 3:20:00 What more can each of us do to ensure 3:20:02 that we live as valued members of our 3:20:04 community? Because no one is coming to 3:20:06 save us. 3:20:10 These are big questions with a big 3:20:12 challenge to answer those questions. But 3:20:14 this 3:20:15 this room, this organization, this is 3:20:18 our answer. 3:20:20 This is the vessel that can help us tap 3:20:22 the power to improve our world. We are 3:20:25 the individuals who are willing to 3:20:26 sacrifice our personal time and effort 3:20:28 to change our communities for the 3:20:29 better. 3:20:31 And it's time to do more. 3:20:33 We are the group that can determine the 3:20:35 future by being willing to serve in our 3:20:37 local governments. And if not from 3:20:39 within, then by using our collective 3:20:41 voices to support those who share our 3:20:43 opinions and support the mission to 3:20:45 improve our lives. 3:20:48 I want to reference a specific example 3:20:50 from experiences of some of those here 3:20:51 in this room just last year in 3:20:53 Telluride. 3:20:54 I'm thinking the experience of Tellide's 3:20:56 Patrol who when in the midst of their 3:20:58 strike last season felt that the voices 3:21:01 of local business owners and as was put 3:21:03 to me last night greedy uh realtors 3:21:07 uh those business owners voices trumped 3:21:09 their own with the local city council. 3:21:12 Those business owners had existing 3:21:14 relationships with council members. They 3:21:16 were able to craft a message that patrol 3:21:18 was selfishly undermining the economy of 3:21:20 the town and therefore the community. 3:21:23 And without a friendly voice in that 3:21:25 council or a trusted relationship with 3:21:27 which to counter those negative versions 3:21:29 of the events, tell your eye patrol was 3:21:32 left to do damage control. 3:21:35 So just think for a moment how different 3:21:37 that might have been 3:21:39 if positive and open relationship with 3:21:41 with members of that council have been 3:21:43 established before the strike. 3:21:46 Now consider how would it have gone if a 3:21:49 patroller or former patroller sat on 3:21:51 that council. 3:21:55 Now is the time to forge these 3:21:57 relationships. Now is the time to push 3:21:59 the members that you know who might join 3:22:01 politics to do so before it is too late. 3:22:05 Because the wolves are at the door and 3:22:07 they are making friends with those who 3:22:08 would increase our rent for their own 3:22:09 profit and allowing allying with those 3:22:13 who have no interest in the camaraderie 3:22:14 of our mountain towns because another 3:22:17 vacation home and a newer Tesla are 3:22:18 their only goals. 3:22:21 I think about how far we've come. United 3:22:24 mountain workers. It makes me proud. And 3:22:28 I think about how much we've gained. 3:22:30 It's huge. I started at Steamboat Ski 3:22:33 Patrol making 1350 eight years ago. I 3:22:37 make more than $30 now. It's huge. 3:22:41 But the steps we have taken are only the 3:22:43 first steps on a determined journey. We 3:22:45 have the power to reshape our mountains 3:22:47 to mountain towns together. By working 3:22:50 with those who hold power and by working 3:22:51 to have our allies and our members gain 3:22:53 that power, we can reshape our world. 3:22:57 Thank you guys. Appreciate 3:23:07 You're You're seriously not getting into 3:23:08 Adam's party without a toaster. 3:23:18 >> Travis, you older than Lowry. 3:23:24 Oh, nice. There it is. 3:23:28 Um, thank you Travis. That was awesome. 3:23:31 And uh I fully do not regret 3:23:35 saying hell yeah. Give him whatever he 3:23:37 wants. 3:23:40 Um, 3:23:42 we don't have this on the agenda, but 3:23:45 I'm going to bring Connor Halt from Big 3:23:47 Sky up here really quick. Connor is the 3:23:50 new treasurer of our 501c3 nonprofit 3:23:54 organization, Friends of United Mountain 3:23:56 Workers, which was launched recently. 3:23:58 Connor has been helping with the roll 3:24:00 out of that, and I'm going to let him 3:24:01 introduce the subject. Thanks, Connor. 3:24:07 >> Yeah, Max is right. Uh, it wasn't on the 3:24:09 agenda, so I didn't think I'd have to be 3:24:11 up here speaking. Well, I'll keep it 3:24:12 brief. Um Max and Andrew uh started 3:24:17 Friends of United Mountain Workers, the 3:24:19 nonprofit is the affiliate of our local 3:24:23 um and they put a lot of great work into 3:24:25 it and u myself and two other members 3:24:29 were um chosen post nomination process 3:24:33 to be on the board of directors and um 3:24:37 there's two former uh patrollers from uh 3:24:41 PCP SPA or one current at most is 3:24:43 mountain safety there and myself. Um, 3:24:47 and 3:24:49 I'm excited to kind of like have this 3:24:51 framework um that Max laid out and and 3:24:54 go with it from there. And we've been 3:24:56 meeting since um this spring and putting 3:25:01 some infrastructure together for this 3:25:02 nonprofit and reading a lot of the 3:25:04 feedback y'all had and gave in those 3:25:07 surveys um for what you want to see done 3:25:11 with it. And been really cool kind of 3:25:13 just like spitballing with these two 3:25:15 other folks of like what what we can do 3:25:17 and where we can take this thing. And 3:25:19 I'd like to to use this time to kind of 3:25:22 go over like the things we can and can't 3:25:24 do. And it is a huge opportunity with a 3:25:28 C3. You know, the IRS grants you this um 3:25:31 tax advantage status. Um and with that 3:25:33 does come some come some guard rails. Um 3:25:37 you know, if we we raise money, you 3:25:40 know, I can't can't authorize us to give 3:25:44 that to a strike fund to any of our 3:25:45 bargaining units, right? That would that 3:25:47 would remove our tax exempt status right 3:25:50 away. Um, but because it is uh a C3, it 3:25:55 does give us a tremendous amount of 3:25:56 opportunity for prospective donors to 3:25:59 raise funds and those donor receipts do 3:26:03 inspire a lot of people to give and I 3:26:06 think that's huge. 3:26:07 with that. I think the C3 can kind of 3:26:09 take some of the the burden of of 3:26:12 scholarships and um the burden of 3:26:16 expenses from the local that can that 3:26:19 can benefit mountain workers as a whole 3:26:22 and and by doing that, you know, by by 3:26:25 using the funds we raise to put our name 3:26:27 out there. You know, it is the friends 3:26:29 of United Mountain Workers when a um 3:26:34 prospective patroller copper, you know, 3:26:38 is looking to um take a pro one course 3:26:42 or is looking to get an EMT course to 3:26:44 start ski patrolling or any mountain 3:26:47 worker beyond our traditional scope of 3:26:49 what our local represents, you know, 3:26:51 wants to um uh take a guide course for 3:26:56 their summer employment. Um when that 3:27:00 scholarship comes from Friends of United 3:27:01 Mountain Workers, it puts our name out 3:27:03 there and they they take it home with 3:27:05 that. And I think I don't think we can 3:27:07 put a value on that. You know, when when 3:27:09 they come home with a an award and they 3:27:12 know where it came from and it came from 3:27:14 an affiliate of a a local a pro labor 3:27:17 organization. Um I think that excites me 3:27:20 and it puts our name out there um in a 3:27:23 way that's unique that's unique and um 3:27:27 that we haven't done before. 3:27:29 you know, the the first steps we've kind 3:27:31 of taken with this uh nonprofit is we've 3:27:35 um worked on building a website and our 3:27:37 soft launch from the seed fund and we 3:27:39 have uh a bulk of which bulk of which 3:27:42 which comes from the gener generosity of 3:27:44 PCP spa. So, thank you y'all. Um, we are 3:27:48 doing a soft launch of a a a broad beam 3:27:52 scholarship that you can and any out 3:27:56 mountain worker or prospective mountain 3:27:58 workers eligible for and um whether 3:28:02 that's a current member of this 3:28:05 organization of UMW or a prospective u 3:28:10 ski patroller or a non-member, you know, 3:28:13 it's it's another resource out there for 3:28:15 people in these high cost of living 3:28:18 areas with uh lower than enough 3:28:22 compensation to um develop themselves 3:28:25 and get the necessary education or 3:28:28 continuing education that is often 3:28:30 needed um in our workplaces. And um 3:28:33 while it is open to all of y'all um 3:28:37 these first scholarships, it's open to 3:28:39 everyone too. And that's how you know we 3:28:42 can serve the C3 status and the board 3:28:44 would evaluate all of these scholarships 3:28:47 and um award on a blind setting based on 3:28:51 you know who who applied um and what 3:28:54 they wrote and how they benefit. Um and 3:28:57 it's it's a it's a great way and a great 3:29:00 opportunity I think to like when that 3:29:01 scholarship's awarded it does does put 3:29:03 our name out there you know um and I'm 3:29:06 excited about that and we were ski 3:29:10 patrollers and former ski patrollers, 3:29:11 not web developers, but we're we're uh 3:29:15 quite close to being live with our 3:29:16 website. And I know the point of being 3:29:19 here in person today was to avoid more 3:29:21 emails in your inbox, but when it is up 3:29:24 and running, which should be really soon 3:29:26 with the scholarship page, um keep an 3:29:29 eye out for that that email. Um and 3:29:32 those applications are open to everyone. 3:29:34 There's info on it, too. Um that's our 3:29:37 first soft launch of what to do. And I 3:29:40 have all these like lofty ideas of of 3:29:42 what we could do and what we could 3:29:44 publish and um data on, you know, cost 3:29:48 of living in these these mountain towns. 3:29:50 Like as Max said earlier this morning, 3:29:53 um you know, there's a lot of precedent 3:29:55 out there for nonprofits to to do that 3:29:58 research and publish like cost of living 3:29:59 data because that's inherently not 3:30:01 political. That's just reality. And you 3:30:03 know, like 3:30:05 I'm like excited to spitball these ideas 3:30:07 of things nonprofit can do that benefits 3:30:11 our members by benefiting mountain 3:30:12 workers as a whole while still um 3:30:16 navigating the C3 status of being 3:30:19 independent and being um inherently not 3:30:23 political. I still think there's a huge 3:30:26 opportunity there and um it's a great 3:30:29 way to like 3:30:31 utilize these funds that might not 3:30:33 ordinarily come our way from someone 3:30:35 who's expecting a donor receipt um to to 3:30:38 put it to work to still ultimately 3:30:40 benefit this community. 3:30:44 If anyone has any questions about the C3 3:30:47 or Friends of right now or anytime, just 3:30:51 give me a call, shoot me an email. Our 3:30:54 info, our email is infow.com.org.org. 3:31:04 >> Just.org. 3:31:07 >> Yeah. 3:31:09 Thanks. 3:31:17 >> Sweet. Uh, thank you, Connor. And 3:31:19 excellent work. It's been really cool to 3:31:21 watch this um come together. 3:31:24 Um, 3:31:26 bio break or straight into the 30 minute 3:31:29 strike panel? 3:31:33 Bio break. Is that what you're saying? 3:31:36 Yeah. 3:31:38 Not much. Yeah. Bio break. Five minutes. 3:40:07 Neo, 3:40:09 shut up. 3:40:14 >> Sweet. Thanks, guys. Um, thanks for 3:40:18 hanging with us. We're gonna do our best 3:40:21 to keep this thing moving and also not 3:40:23 uh remove any content from from this 3:40:26 production. That's probably 3:40:31 I just switched them up. 3:40:34 Um, 3:40:35 this is the last kind of big group thing 3:40:38 that we have on the schedule aside from 3:40:40 coming back and adjouring after these 3:40:42 workshops. Um, 3:40:45 and we're going to do a a panel 3:40:47 discussion with four of our members who 3:40:50 have been on strike. uh they've been 3:40:53 very gracious and willing to give us 3:40:55 their time and to get up here and and be 3:40:57 vulnerable about their experiences. So, 3:40:59 please express appreciation to them 3:41:02 later on because it's not easy to talk 3:41:05 about uh things that felt extremely 3:41:08 difficult and personal for these groups 3:41:10 of workers. Um and oftentimes like they 3:41:14 were on a little island with just the 3:41:17 folks that they were on strike with. And 3:41:19 that is really how it can feel 3:41:20 sometimes. It's incredibly isolating and 3:41:23 and scary and stressful. And so again, I 3:41:27 really appreciate these four people 3:41:28 being willing to do this. Um, without 3:41:30 further ado, from Tellyide, Graham 3:41:32 Hoffman and Jackie Kernney from Park 3:41:34 City, Al Bagley and Amy Lad. 3:41:58 Is everybody comfortable? 3:42:01 >> Cool. I I switched your microphones off 3:42:05 because it was doing a weird feedback 3:42:06 thing. So, we might just need to like 3:42:08 play a game with each other. 3:42:10 Um, 3:42:12 first uh a heavyhitting question. if you 3:42:15 guys could just introduce yourselves um 3:42:17 and and give any like opening remark 3:42:20 that you'd like to but an introduction 3:42:22 would be great. Thanks. 3:42:25 >> My name is 3:42:27 >> in the microphone or it doesn't count. 3:42:30 >> My name is Graham. I'm the president and 3:42:33 tellide. Uh this is my I'm going into my 3:42:36 sixth year as president. This is my 3:42:37 ninth year on the bargaining committee. 3:42:39 Um this was I think I've done four 3:42:41 contracts now, two with Tony. um and to 3:42:45 as president and one halftime when we 3:42:48 walked out of the the room. 3:42:52 >> My name is Jackie. As you know from 3:42:54 earlier, I'm the VP of the 7781, but I 3:42:58 am also um the secretary for Telly Rides 3:43:02 Union and I was among other things doing 3:43:06 a lot of our communications um during 3:43:08 the strike and it was my first contract 3:43:12 I negotiated. Um but I did sign on to my 3:43:15 nomination. 3:43:17 We'll talk a little more about this 3:43:18 later, I think. But having a already 3:43:20 kind of having an idea of this being a 3:43:22 potential outcome of this session. 3:43:28 >> Hi everyone, my name is Allison Bagley. 3:43:30 I'm the president at Park City. This 3:43:32 will be my second year in this role. So 3:43:35 when we went on strike, I was a rank and 3:43:37 file member. I was on the mobilization 3:43:40 committee. Um it was my very first time 3:43:43 really getting involved with my unit and 3:43:46 understanding the whole process. So 3:43:50 yeah, that's that was kind of my 3:43:51 perspective when we went on strike and I 3:43:54 learned so much from it and so that's 3:43:56 kind of how I'll be speaking and 3:43:57 answering these questions from just a 3:43:59 rank and file member on the picket line 3:44:01 but learned so much and yeah excited to 3:44:03 talk about it. 3:44:05 >> Hi everyone, I'm Amy. Um I serve as our 3:44:08 social media steward of Park City. Um, I 3:44:12 was also brought on right before, well, 3:44:14 I guess like October time frame before 3:44:15 we went on strike in December. Um, I had 3:44:18 been the safety committee before, but I 3:44:20 had never really like done anything 3:44:21 social media. Um, so I'd never been on 3:44:23 our board. Um, really just a steward 3:44:26 level gal in our unit. 3:44:32 >> Um, I think to kind of maybe start the 3:44:35 conversation 3:44:38 as best as you can, like could you tell 3:44:39 us a little bit about like when you 3:44:41 realized the strike was kind of going to 3:44:43 happen was going to be necessary and and 3:44:45 and when did the broader membership do 3:44:47 you think kind of did it dawn on them 3:44:49 that this was going to happen and and 3:44:51 what kind of steps did you take to to 3:44:53 kind of bridge that gap between you know 3:44:56 maybe the people at the bargaining 3:44:57 committee and then the actual folks the 3:44:59 rank and file you guys can speak to what 3:45:02 you came 3:45:06 >> um yeah so like I said I was brought on 3:45:07 in October uh we ended up going on 3:45:09 strike in December mber. So when I came 3:45:12 into it about this time frame, I would 3:45:14 say probably our negotiators and our 3:45:17 executive board had known for a while. 3:45:20 They had been negotiating for I don't 3:45:21 even know how many months. Um and I 3:45:24 think they were seeing really zero 3:45:26 movement specifically when it comes to 3:45:28 like the wage and benefit side of 3:45:30 things. Um, and so to their credit, like 3:45:34 they had a escalation timeline already 3:45:37 ready, and this was back in September, 3:45:39 October. Um, so I think they realized a 3:45:42 lot sooner. Obviously, it was never 3:45:44 anyone's goal to go on strike. That is 3:45:46 not the goal. Uh, so they were trying to 3:45:48 do every little step possible to avoid 3:45:50 it. Um, but yeah, I think about that 3:45:54 October time frame, I don't want to say 3:45:56 they knew we were going to do it because 3:45:58 we were trying to avoid it, but that was 3:45:59 probably when they were like, "Okay, we 3:46:00 got to really get the ball rolling on 3:46:02 how we're going to get this uh thing to 3:46:05 actually work." Um, and then I would say 3:46:08 for the rank and file members, um, it 3:46:11 probably came close to like when the 3:46:13 season started and we knew we weren't 3:46:15 seeing any movement uh, from the company 3:46:17 on wages uh, or the important articles 3:46:20 in the contract. And I think everyone 3:46:22 knew that 3:46:24 uh at least for Park City's history like 3:46:26 we've gotten so close to going on strike 3:46:28 many times. Max would probably know 3:46:29 better than me, but uh like when I was a 3:46:31 rookie uh this is my fifth year, we 3:46:35 almost did the thing like we did the 3:46:36 strike authorization vote and anyways 3:46:38 ended up coming to a contract at the 3:46:40 11th hour. So, I think that everyone 3:46:42 knew that like we'd gotten as close as 3:46:43 we could in the previous contract 3:46:46 seasons and this was the year that like 3:46:48 if we don't actually do this thing, 3:46:50 they're going to know we're we like 3:46:53 either like can't or won't whatever. Um, 3:46:55 and so we actually got to do the thing. 3:46:57 So, that's what I think. Do you have 3:46:58 anything to add? 3:47:00 >> Yeah, I think just for me personally, I 3:47:02 was on the mobilization committee, so we 3:47:04 were having meetings with the board and 3:47:07 calling people one-on-one, having those 3:47:09 conversations. And the first action we 3:47:11 did is we all wore our union t-shirts to 3:47:13 our opening meeting, general meeting of 3:47:15 the season. And the CEO of Park City, 3:47:19 um, Dedra Walsh and Mike Lewis, the, um, 3:47:25 department, the mountain ops, yeah, VP, 3:47:28 whatever. They were both there and, um, 3:47:31 we were all wearing our shirts and I 3:47:32 remember them getting up and saying 3:47:34 something and for me personally, that's 3:47:36 when it dawned on I was like, "Wow, we 3:47:38 have so much power right now just 3:47:39 wearing these shirts, which is such a 3:47:42 small thing, and they're here because 3:47:43 they're scared. Like, they are usually 3:47:45 not at that meeting." So, personally, 3:47:47 that's when I kind of realized we're 3:47:49 probably going to do this and we 3:47:50 probably need to do this and I think 3:47:52 it's going to work. Um, and then I think 3:47:54 the membership or everyone else probably 3:47:58 a little bit down the line when we were 3:48:00 doing practice pickets and actually 3:48:02 doing a little bit more high consequence 3:48:03 actions instead of just wearing shirts 3:48:06 was when it might have dawned on people 3:48:07 more. 3:48:11 >> Um, from our perspective in Turide, uh, 3:48:15 I'll go back three or four years to our 3:48:17 previous contract before this one. Um 3:48:19 that contract was far and away the most 3:48:22 contentious that that process had been 3:48:24 since the beginning. Um since we first 3:48:27 formed a union. That was the first time 3:48:28 we ever went out of contract um in our 3:48:31 history as a union. And by the time that 3:48:34 we I think it was November by the time 3:48:35 that we took a contract uh back to the 3:48:38 membership for a discussion and for a 3:48:40 vote, you know, that was we felt 3:48:42 strongly this is the best contract that 3:48:43 we can get for everybody at this time 3:48:46 and this isn't good enough. Um that 3:48:49 mandate was made clear to me. It was 3:48:51 made clear to the committee at that time 3:48:54 and the committee moving forward that 3:48:57 this this last year's outcome could 3:48:59 absolutely be possible and is probably 3:49:01 on the table if they're going to fight 3:49:03 us over over so much um going back then. 3:49:08 As far as building I don't know building 3:49:10 that those steps with our with our 3:49:12 membership. It's something that we've 3:49:14 been talking about for three years now. 3:49:16 Um in refresher every year and in all of 3:49:18 our other union meetings that start 3:49:20 putting money away uh start preparing. 3:49:22 This could be happening. Um we are back 3:49:24 in ugly waters with with ownership and 3:49:28 this is very much uh on the cards. 3:49:33 >> Okay. 3:49:38 >> Thanks guys. 3:49:40 Um I'd like to hear You guys talk about 3:49:46 the structure tests that happened within 3:49:49 your units prior to going on strike. 3:49:53 You know, obviously 3:49:55 you don't just one day in negotiations 3:49:57 say, "All right, it's a strike." And 3:49:59 everybody walks out. Uh, you know, they 3:50:02 talked about the t-shirts. I know that 3:50:04 I've I've seen images of practice 3:50:06 pickets and all of that. And I I kind of 3:50:08 want you guys to talk about that and how 3:50:10 how that relates to 3:50:13 working with the membership to 3:50:18 build confidence in in the choice that 3:50:21 you're making to go on strike. 3:50:27 >> Yeah, I mentioned the t-shirts that we 3:50:29 did and I think doing simple actions 3:50:32 like that show a lot and if you can get 3:50:35 someone to wear a t-shirt, you might get 3:50:36 someone to do the next step and you need 3:50:38 to build it step by step. Um, you can't 3:50:41 just jump from wearing a t-shirt 3:50:43 altogether and walking into a meeting to 3:50:44 striking. And I think what built my 3:50:48 personal confidence was going to the 3:50:50 mobilization meetings and seeing how 3:50:51 many people were showing up and how many 3:50:53 people were willing to take hours out of 3:50:54 their week to call individual people and 3:50:57 have these really tough conversations. 3:50:59 And that was my first experience doing 3:51:01 that. I had no idea what I was doing. I 3:51:03 was doing Yeah. I was just talking to 3:51:06 people, telling them what I knew and 3:51:07 listening and trying my best. And those 3:51:10 conversations were really, really 3:51:12 draining, especially with those number 3:51:14 two people like Ryan was saying that are 3:51:16 kind of on the fence and have a lot of 3:51:18 questions and have a lot of concerns. 3:51:19 And I'm new to this, too, and I didn't 3:51:22 know what the answers were, but we 3:51:24 figured it out. And so many other people 3:51:26 were in my similar position, putting 3:51:28 themselves out there and really 3:51:30 believing in the movement and learning 3:51:32 as we went and putting in that work made 3:51:36 me believe in it. And then we did all 3:51:38 these different structural tests. I 3:51:40 think the most empowering one for me is 3:51:42 when we picketed outside of a bargaining 3:51:46 session and we had I don't know the 3:51:50 exact number but it felt like we had 3:51:51 literally every single person there and 3:51:54 our negotiators walked in and we had 3:51:56 opened up a bunch of the windows near 3:51:59 the conference room that they were in 3:52:01 and the noise that everyone was making 3:52:04 was insane. It was probably the coolest 3:52:06 thing I've ever been a part of, like 3:52:08 that moment. And we were all screaming 3:52:11 and chanting and they came in and shut 3:52:13 the windows and were visibly angry. And 3:52:15 then our negotiators told them, "Hey, 3:52:18 like it's not just us in this room. All 3:52:20 of our unit members are out there and 3:52:22 they want this too and we're serious 3:52:23 about going on strike and fighting for 3:52:25 what we need." And they got up and 3:52:26 walked out of that negotiating room. Um, 3:52:29 and that was for me personally, I don't 3:52:32 know what the board thought or what that 3:52:34 decision was to go on strike after that, 3:52:37 but that was like, okay, we're ready. 3:52:38 Like, people are showing up and people 3:52:40 are screaming right in front of their 3:52:42 bosses telling them what we want. 3:52:49 >> Yeah. 3:52:50 >> Yeah. 3:52:52 >> The police were like 3:52:53 >> The police were like, "Hell yeah." 3:52:55 >> Yeah. They're like, they're like, "This 3:52:57 is peaceful. you're fine. 3:53:03 >> Um, for our structural tests, um, I 3:53:06 think something that we're 3:53:08 very proud of in Tellide is our our 3:53:10 membership is all 100% dues paying 3:53:12 members. Um so in the sense of of 3:53:17 trying to it allowed us to the spend our 3:53:21 time building a consensus of how to go 3:53:23 about this um rather than are we going 3:53:26 to go about this and we had a lot of 3:53:27 discussion about making sure before we 3:53:29 we took that final step um before we 3:53:31 took that that final plunge um to make 3:53:34 sure that we all understood the 3:53:36 ramifications of going out and going out 3:53:38 against a crazy lunatic. Um it was we 3:53:41 knew it was going to be different from 3:53:42 from Veil. We knew that that there was 3:53:44 no there's no plan. There never was a 3:53:46 plan. There still is no plan. Um but 3:53:49 that we were able to spend that time 3:53:51 building consensus as to how to go about 3:53:53 it. And we couldn't be more grateful for 3:53:55 for Allison and for Kate um for for 3:53:57 laying out that groundwork of of here's 3:53:59 how you can do this with the t-shirts. 3:54:00 Here's how you can work a a practice 3:54:02 strike. Um, to which our French 3:54:04 exchanger was very mocked us um, 3:54:07 excessively of, "Oh, what the [ __ ] is a 3:54:09 practice strike in France? You just 3:54:10 [ __ ] go on strike." 3:54:14 He just threw his cigarette in someone's 3:54:15 face and just walked away. 3:54:18 Yeah, 3:54:19 >> we should have been on strike from the 3:54:21 get-go according to Brace Priest. Um so 3:54:24 being able to build that consensus um 3:54:27 beforehand 3:54:29 up to and during um and let the group 3:54:31 kind of figure out how we want to go 3:54:33 about this as a group um was valuable 3:54:35 for us. 3:54:39 >> And I'll just add I think this goes a 3:54:41 little bit back to that first question 3:54:43 but um I think for us even building like 3:54:48 the like pre-structure to the structured 3:54:50 test was really effective like had 3:54:53 mentioned 3:54:54 and like Amy said, obviously the goal is 3:54:57 never to go on strike, right? But we had 3:55:01 prepared our group and had been 3:55:03 preparing our group for three years for 3:55:06 this being a potential outcome. So I 3:55:09 think when we finally got to it, you 3:55:12 know, we were having conversations with 3:55:13 people, it wasn't so much like, are you 3:55:16 willing to do this? It was more like 3:55:18 this is looking like where this is 3:55:19 headed and you know we've already talked 3:55:21 about it. Are you still on board? And um 3:55:26 I think we had you know we had taken 3:55:28 like a a strike vote quite a bit before 3:55:33 we actually talked about um going out 3:55:36 and we knew we would work for you know 3:55:40 over a month um without a contract 3:55:44 hoping that we would reach something. 3:55:45 But we already had established that 3:55:47 solidarity um before we did these 3:55:50 practice um practice strikes and things 3:55:52 like that. So we knew we had um 3:55:56 I want to say we have one person who is 3:55:58 not on board, but we're pretty much 3:56:00 100%. 3:56:02 Um, and I'll say too with that, I think 3:56:05 I think like reading we learned from 3:56:08 that, it's a little tangential, but what 3:56:10 we learned from that also is being able 3:56:12 to like read the room and 3:56:14 if you do have that no vote, you know, 3:56:18 kind of weighing what that no vote is 3:56:20 worth. not to sound, you know, callous 3:56:24 and say that that person doesn't matter, 3:56:26 but knowing why they're voting no, 3:56:28 knowing how they relate to the rest of 3:56:30 your group is also really important. And 3:56:32 in this case, we felt really confident 3:56:35 that there wasn't necessarily going to 3:56:37 be a lot of buy in with this one no 3:56:40 vote. So, we really felt like we had 3:56:41 that like 100% everyone on board. 3:56:46 >> Uh, and through those discussions, we we 3:56:47 did figure out and we turned her around 3:56:49 at one point. She was just misinformed 3:56:50 and had no idea. 3:56:51 >> Yeah. 3:56:52 >> Um but then went back to misinformed and 3:56:54 no doesn't matter. Um, but just going 3:56:58 back and adding some color on on 3:56:59 building that consensus through the 3:57:01 process and knowing when this could be a 3:57:03 possibility Tony brought up in the car 3:57:05 yesterday of of we we try to keep our 3:57:07 membership um a breast of every meeting 3:57:10 um the tone of all of the discussions um 3:57:13 coming out of of of all of our all 3:57:15 summer long and into the fall and going 3:57:17 into the winter of of letting them 3:57:19 understand that this is getting uglier. 3:57:21 This is getting uglier from our own 3:57:22 director. This is getting uglier from 3:57:24 the company and this is just snowballing 3:57:28 uh towards towards the in inevitable. 3:57:41 >> Does anybody have a question they want? 3:57:48 >> Gabby, it's your time to shine, Gabby. 3:58:01 You guys mentioned a couple times that, 3:58:03 you know, striking's never the goal, and 3:58:06 that's not what we're looking to do. As 3:58:08 someone who uh 3:58:11 dreams maybe of being part of a 3:58:13 successful strike, uh 3:58:15 get my cart punched as a, you know, 3:58:18 quality organizer. What would you say to 3:58:20 talk me off the ledge, I guess, when it 3:58:22 comes to strikes? 3:58:35 >> What would you say to the aspirational 3:58:36 striker? 3:58:40 I would say that and I think it was also 3:58:44 like no I just watching your strike 3:58:46 confirms this is that you there is no 3:58:50 way to prepare for what's going to 3:58:51 happen like you don't know what the 3:58:52 company's going to do. You don't know 3:58:53 how the community is going to react. I 3:58:55 think what hit hardest for myself was 3:58:58 not only our fellow patrollers that had 3:59:00 to work, like our supervisors um that we 3:59:02 are close with, but there's not in our 3:59:04 unit that were forced to work, but um 3:59:07 other employees at the resort were 3:59:09 heavily affected by our strike. Um, 3:59:14 and like obviously we know what we're 3:59:16 doing is for the greater good and that 3:59:18 they will eventually benefit from it, 3:59:20 but I think that we are still working on 3:59:22 repairing those um, relationships with 3:59:25 our like lifties and ski instructors and 3:59:28 uh, like the hosts who had to like 3:59:32 regurgitate the company's propaganda. I 3:59:34 don't know if that's the right word, but 3:59:35 like they had to like smile along and 3:59:37 pretend everything was fine uh, when 3:59:39 they were having a really horrible time, 3:59:40 too. Um, so yeah, like we as patrol like 3:59:44 we benefited a lot, but I think that I 3:59:46 could have never expected what the 3:59:48 experience on the mountain was for our 3:59:50 fellow um, employees. 3:59:54 >> Yeah. And I think it's you never know 3:59:57 what financial hit you'll take going on 3:59:59 strike. You have no idea how long you'll 4:00:01 have to be out there. Luckily for us, we 4:00:04 had incredible support from the 4:00:06 community and a huge strike fund come in 4:00:09 and we were able to pay everyone on the 4:00:10 picket line basically their normal wage, 4:00:13 which was insane and something I never 4:00:16 thought was going to happen, but the 4:00:19 company could take away your health 4:00:20 insurance. We had unit members who um 4:00:24 had big health concerns or had their 4:00:28 partners were pregnant and different 4:00:30 things that we couldn't ensure 4:00:32 security for. Um and so I think saying 4:00:36 striking is never the goal. There's just 4:00:37 so many things that you have to consider 4:00:39 and 4:00:41 weigh the options of what's worth it and 4:00:43 what's not and what the outcomes could 4:00:46 be. 4:00:47 I think it's a really powerful thing 4:00:49 that we should always be prepared for 4:00:51 and I mean we all did it and I don't 4:00:54 think we regret it. We got really 4:00:57 amazing things and I think it was an 4:00:59 amazing thing to be a part of but it's 4:01:02 not always the goal I guess 4:01:07 definitely not the goal. Um, we went 4:01:10 through, I don't know, six, eight 4:01:12 sessions with in with a mediator 4:01:15 somewhere around there. Um, 4:01:18 within the 30 minutes of the first 4:01:20 session of the first day with the 4:01:21 mediator, she was like, "Yeah, there's 4:01:23 no [ __ ] deal here. I don't know what 4:01:25 they're talking about." Um, 4:01:28 so knowing that was both refreshing to 4:01:30 have an outsider like, "Okay, we're not 4:01:32 we're not crazy. um we're trying all the 4:01:35 steps, you know, well, we're willing to 4:01:37 to go through this process. Um we're 4:01:40 we're willing to try everything and meet 4:01:41 any time up until 4:01:44 it didn't work. 4:01:47 >> Yeah. And I'll add, you know, often 4:01:50 people talk about a strike as being like 4:01:53 the nuclear option that we have, and it 4:01:55 does truly feel like that. I think for 4:01:58 us and what was a big difference between 4:02:02 us and Park City is that Tellyide is so 4:02:05 remote and so isolated and our 4:02:08 management was so like I think nobody 4:02:12 knew what a veil was going to do and our 4:02:15 ownership 4:02:16 is uniquely 4:02:18 un unpredictable and irrational I think. 4:02:22 And um 4:02:25 I also 4:02:27 preface this by saying I I think that 4:02:29 this is an amazing stro show show of our 4:02:32 power and I am fully supportive of 4:02:34 people going out. I think just in terms 4:02:37 of being prepared for the outcome, you 4:02:40 know, we destroyed the local economy 4:02:43 when we walked out. I mean, everything 4:02:45 shut down. They closed, you know, they 4:02:47 closed the ski area and the way people 4:02:51 reacted to that was really varied. Um, 4:02:55 but a lot of people were really scared 4:02:57 and financially stressed and um, you 4:03:01 know, we were the dog in the room to 4:03:03 kick and like that's they had the most 4:03:06 access to us and so they contacted us. 4:03:10 You know, I don't live in the town of 4:03:12 Tellide. Graham does. our especially our 4:03:16 executive board members who everyone 4:03:18 knew who we were like it was hard for 4:03:21 them to exist as just as people in the 4:03:25 town of Tellyide they were being 4:03:26 harassed like and so there's there's 4:03:30 that element like 4:03:32 it was extremely effective for us you 4:03:34 know our wages are the best they've ever 4:03:37 been we got all the money that we walked 4:03:39 out over um at the end of the day but it 4:03:42 wasn't 4:03:44 there there's just there's a cost to it 4:03:46 that you can't avoid and a strike is 4:03:50 meant to be disruptive and like in that 4:03:52 way we were very successful. It was 4:03:55 extremely disruptive but there's no way 4:03:57 to kind of like target the damage only 4:04:01 to the company. There's going to be 4:04:03 collateral damage and 4:04:06 that can be really emotionally 4:04:08 challenging. I think that was what was 4:04:10 really hard for most people in our 4:04:12 membership who were having a hard time 4:04:14 that came to me um is they were really 4:04:18 upset because their close friends were 4:04:21 really scared and really upset even 4:04:24 though they were supportive of us. 4:04:36 Your question was a a an interesting 4:04:38 one, an aspiring striker, etc. 4:04:43 My choice was 4:04:46 strike or leave. There was no halfway. 4:04:51 If we did not fight for 4:04:55 and succeed in making a real living, I 4:04:59 was done. 4:05:01 That's where it was for me. I'd been at 4:05:04 it for many, many years. It was my soul. 4:05:07 This job isn't a hobby to me. It's my 4:05:09 thing. That's who I am. And if we had 4:05:12 not gone on strike, I would have quit 4:05:14 and left. If we'd have failed, I'd have 4:05:17 quit and left because I couldn't make 4:05:20 ends meet. There's no joke. There's no 4:05:23 funny here. Maybe you're single, don't 4:05:26 have responsibilities, kids, so on so 4:05:28 forth. Remember that your colleagues do. 4:05:32 So never ever take it lightly. When I 4:05:35 made the decision for myself that here's 4:05:38 the edge of the cliff and I'm ready, 4:05:40 then I did not hesitate to speak out in 4:05:42 our meetings and encourage people and 4:05:44 strengthen people and help them armor 4:05:47 themselves. I had no hesitation 4:05:50 and I did no longer care if the company 4:05:53 cut my throat. Fine, I'm leaving anyway 4:05:56 if we fail. So I didn't hesitate and I 4:05:59 was not anonymous. 4:06:01 This is how serious it is. Don't ever 4:06:05 ever take it lightly. 4:06:20 >> Hi guys, I'm with Keystone and we're 4:06:22 bargaining come May. Um, 4:06:28 I mean, we all have some pretty big 4:06:31 asks, I think, coming up. So, 4:06:34 I think it's going to get drawn out 4:06:35 pretty far, maybe to a strike. Hopefully 4:06:37 not, at least close to I could see that 4:06:39 happening like coming to an agreement 4:06:41 next November or December. Um, 4:06:44 I guess my question is part of good 4:06:47 faith bargaining is give and take, 4:06:49 right? So, when you guys realized you 4:06:50 were getting to a strike, were you at 4:06:53 all regretful on some of the things you 4:06:55 had given up prior to that that were no 4:06:57 longer on the table? And how would you 4:07:01 recommend managing that? 4:07:08 >> Um, I have just one really specific 4:07:10 thing. I really regretted that we gave 4:07:12 up our healthcare stipen. 4:07:15 I think that makes a huge difference for 4:07:18 people even feeling like they're taken 4:07:20 care of and we it was not a lot of money 4:07:22 and we should have held on to that. 4:07:35 >> Yeah, I would I would second the 4:07:37 healthcare thing. Um, but as far as like 4:07:40 I think we've talked about this a bunch 4:07:41 of like you got to know what your 4:07:43 members are willing to uh give up or 4:07:46 like succeed if you will. Um, so keeping 4:07:49 a a really close tab on like I think we 4:07:52 sent out a huge survey um like a week 4:07:56 into the strike of like what are you 4:07:57 willing to continue to strike over, what 4:07:59 are you willing to not? And so like it 4:08:01 didn't really matter what I as Amy 4:08:03 wanted like what did the majority of our 4:08:06 membership want? and um like I wanted 4:08:08 healthcare but 80% of our I make that 4:08:11 number up uh didn't like wasn't willing 4:08:14 to continue the strike over that and so 4:08:16 that's why that make I think that 4:08:18 probably helps answer that a little bit 4:08:19 better of just like yeah make sure you 4:08:22 keep probing your membership for like 4:08:24 what what is this worth it for you guys 4:08:29 >> other than the healthcare um for me we 4:08:33 as Jackie said when when we came back we 4:08:35 got the total dollar amount Um, we got 4:08:37 the the percentages to the point, um, we 4:08:41 they came back with what we needed, what 4:08:43 we asked for. We didn't go down a 4:08:44 dollar. We didn't finish the fight of 4:08:47 our wage structure. Um, we moved our 4:08:49 base pays up significantly. We could 4:08:52 not, we had modified some of our skills, 4:08:54 but we went into this that the wage 4:08:56 structure needs to make sense. Um, and 4:08:59 we weren't able to finish 4:09:02 finish that fight. Uh, so we couldn't 4:09:04 fully apply the money in some certain 4:09:06 places. Uh, and that money ended up just 4:09:08 going to to bonuses that which is great, 4:09:10 but um, not not finishing that structure 4:09:13 was was disheartening. 4:09:24 >> So, 4:09:27 um, Alex here kind of talked about how 4:09:29 he's dreaming someday of doing a strike. 4:09:32 Um, and I know for a fact he would 4:09:35 without a doubt and he would probably 4:09:36 fight it forever. But I know there's 4:09:38 people out there that maybe on the 4:09:39 opposite side of the spectrum that say 4:09:41 they want to and they're like excited 4:09:43 about it and then all of a sudden it 4:09:44 we're striking. And how did you all 4:09:47 manage those folks that maybe are 4:09:49 excited to or want to and then they kind 4:09:51 of get the cold feet, maybe cracks start 4:09:54 to form? How did you manage those folks 4:09:57 or did you notice any of that throughout 4:10:00 your strike? 4:10:03 Some people had to be reigned in and 4:10:05 that's okay. And we just channeled their 4:10:07 energy into different places. Um or we 4:10:11 used them as as our rahrh cheerleaders 4:10:13 for for the day. Um and made sure that 4:10:15 they understood their ramifications if 4:10:17 they were to uh go over the line. Um so 4:10:22 putting a leash on that energy was uh a 4:10:26 a good problem to have. Um, you know, as 4:10:29 we go into week two, um, that that 4:10:32 strike fatigue, um, is is incredibly 4:10:35 difficult. Um, and fighting that, uh, 4:10:38 was was a challenge and every day was 4:10:40 was different. You know, as we started 4:10:42 and ended every day, it was the only way 4:10:44 to learn how to to strike is to go and 4:10:46 strike. Um, there's there's no playbook 4:10:48 and we're so grateful and thankful for 4:10:50 everything that that Park City told us 4:10:52 and taught us and showed us and the way 4:10:54 they went about it. Um, and we applied 4:10:56 everything that we could and Tide was 4:11:00 just different. And just learning how to 4:11:02 how to do that on a day-by-day basis um, 4:11:06 for all of the characters on our patrol 4:11:08 uh, was just building that consensus 4:11:09 together. 4:11:14 >> Yeah, I think we just had to meet people 4:11:16 where they were at and continuing those 4:11:18 one-on-one conversations. I know there 4:11:20 were some people that came out on the 4:11:22 picket line the first few days and then 4:11:24 felt like they couldn't be out there 4:11:25 anymore and stayed home. They didn't 4:11:27 cross the picket line, but they weren't 4:11:28 out there holding a sign with us, which 4:11:30 was a big bummer, but that's where they 4:11:31 were at and they weren't crossing the 4:11:33 picket line. And at the end of the day, 4:11:35 that's a win. So, I think yeah, each 4:11:38 person is different and just continuing 4:11:40 to check in and not assuming anything. 4:11:42 You can never assume what your members 4:11:44 are thinking and it changes really fast. 4:11:47 So continuing that mobilization 4:11:49 committee every day, the strike and 4:11:52 yeah, keeping on top of it. 4:11:58 >> We got this from Park City, but having 4:12:00 our um our picket captains was a really 4:12:04 good tool in in handling people who, you 4:12:08 know, were starting to get fatigued by 4:12:10 the whole process. We tried to appoint 4:12:13 people into those roles that um are 4:12:16 empathetic and observant and I feel like 4:12:19 they did a really good job and kind of 4:12:21 like natural leaders within our crew um 4:12:25 that they were able to speak one-on-one 4:12:28 to their team which we don't have a huge 4:12:31 you know we're only 68 so um those those 4:12:34 teams are only like eight to 10 people I 4:12:36 think is right and um so they were able 4:12:39 to kind of catch that before it it kind 4:12:42 of it got worse if you know what I mean. 4:12:45 And then I you know we ultimately had um 4:12:50 I think like one or two people who were 4:12:53 just like I'm not going to be on the 4:12:55 picket line and we kind of had to just 4:12:58 accept that and not spend too much 4:13:00 energy on it. and just having the 4:13:02 flexibility um to nothing is black and 4:13:05 white. Um having the flexibility to 4:13:07 either find something else for them to 4:13:08 do that's not on the picket line um in 4:13:10 other ways that they can support us 4:13:12 behind the scenes. Um yeah, in that 4:13:15 sense just be flexible. 4:13:29 Um, 4:13:31 so I agree that we, you know, like we 4:13:34 have a responsibility to avoid a strike 4:13:35 if possible, but I also do kind of agree 4:13:38 we have a responsibility to position 4:13:39 ourselves kind of like you guys have 4:13:41 mentioned um so that if that did happen 4:13:44 um you know you'd be able you'd be 4:13:45 ready. Um, so I guess I'm just curious 4:13:47 if you guys could share anything in 4:13:48 general. Um, things you learned that 4:13:51 went well, maybe didn't go so well as 4:13:53 far as like positioning or was that uh 4:13:56 was that conscious or did you guys just 4:13:57 kind of arrive and you were like, "Oh, 4:13:59 like we're in a good spot for this." 4:14:12 Uh yeah, we learned from uh Kate told me 4:14:14 early, stop the donut train. Um 4:14:19 >> sorry, the question being what did we 4:14:21 what did we learn or 4:14:37 >> the position of being on strike? 4:14:47 Yeah. Um that again just goes back to 4:14:50 from from that last contract and having 4:14:53 a robust discussion about that. Um and 4:14:55 that was that was passed um 4:14:57 overwhelmingly and 98% or something um 4:15:01 but or passed and that that this needs 4:15:04 to improve and this needs to approve the 4:15:05 next contract. We're sick of kicking the 4:15:07 can down the road. Um, we have kicked 4:15:09 that can as far as we can kick it and we 4:15:11 kicked that can as far as we could take 4:15:13 it um this go around and eventually the 4:15:16 [ __ ] has to hit the fan. Um, and so 4:15:19 keeping keeping our membership um 4:15:22 apprised again of of not only just the 4:15:24 the context but but the tone of these 4:15:26 meetings um really helped to make make 4:15:31 that consensus building um easier, more 4:15:33 straightforward. 4:15:36 And I think the threat of going on 4:15:38 strike can be just as powerful as going 4:15:40 on strike. And getting ready for it is 4:15:42 training that muscle and if you need to 4:15:45 use it, it's there. So passing that. We 4:15:48 did a bunch of different steps to ramp 4:15:50 up with social media, press releases, 4:15:53 practice tickets, all these actions and 4:15:56 building slowly up until the strike 4:15:59 authorization vote. And when that 4:16:02 passed, I think it was like 100% or 99 4:16:05 or something, 100%. Um, that was a big 4:16:10 sign to the company that we were ready. 4:16:12 And unfortunately, it wasn't enough, but 4:16:14 that can be. And so being ready for 4:16:16 that, I think is really important. 4:16:20 >> I'll say like just one last thing that 4:16:21 we didn't have control over that I think 4:16:23 might help us is like the weather. We 4:16:26 had like been ready to do this thing and 4:16:28 we were like, "Oh, we're not sure." uh 4:16:30 because of snow. Uh it had been a low 4:16:33 snow year like Christmas itself was very 4:16:36 low snow but like three days later a 4:16:38 giant snowstorm came in. Had that not 4:16:41 come in I don't know what our timing 4:16:42 would have be like we might have changed 4:16:44 the I you know so there's there's other 4:16:46 factors that you still can't even plan 4:16:48 for um that have nothing to do with like 4:16:51 mobilizing and escalating. Um, so that's 4:16:53 yeah, trying to just predict every 4:16:55 outcome is it's exhausting, but it's 4:16:57 it's what we sat there and did. 4:17:07 >> Hello. Hello. Um, how is your 4:17:10 relationship with management post strike 4:17:13 and how's the team handling it? 4:17:20 >> Sorry. Um, so I came in in my role the 4:17:25 first season after strike with our new 4:17:27 contract and it was all new board, which 4:17:30 I think was really good to get new faces 4:17:33 into leadership dealing with management. 4:17:35 And our goal last season was to have a 4:17:38 better working relationship with 4:17:40 management and be able to talk about 4:17:41 things. And we did that. I think we 4:17:44 spent so many hours talking about 4:17:47 things. The company hired a 4:17:50 outside mediation 4:17:53 company called Civility Partners, which 4:17:54 was kind of [ __ ] to try to make our 4:17:57 relationship better, but it did get us 4:17:59 all in the same room. And we got all of 4:18:01 our entire board in the same room with 4:18:03 all of our managers and all of our 4:18:04 supervisors, and we talked about what it 4:18:06 was like to be on strike from both 4:18:07 sides, which I do think was helpful. 4:18:12 Um, I think it was partially a publicity 4:18:15 stunt for the company to do that, but we 4:18:17 definitely put in a lot of work. Now 4:18:20 it's 4:18:22 it's fine. Like I feel like I can talk 4:18:25 to management really openly and I feel 4:18:28 really comfortable saying whatever I 4:18:29 need to say and I think they have decent 4:18:32 respect for me. I have some respect for 4:18:34 them. Um, 4:18:37 and I think it's enough to be able to do 4:18:40 what we need to do, but it took a lot of 4:18:41 work. And I think we sacrificed 4:18:44 getting our members to do things last 4:18:47 season. I think a lot of people were 4:18:49 beat down from the strike and didn't 4:18:51 want to ruffle any fe feathers last 4:18:55 season and so the board decided to fight 4:18:58 really hard in the grievance room and we 4:19:00 did and we got a lot of wins that way. 4:19:03 Um, but I think this next season I want 4:19:06 to see our unit do more and that's on me 4:19:09 and my board to facilitate that. 4:19:15 >> Our relationship with management is 4:19:18 complicated. Our management is 4:19:20 complicated because it doesn't exist. 4:19:23 Um, 4:19:25 we we I can't I don't know how to 4:19:28 explain ownership. Um 4:19:31 there's no one who he just fired his his 4:19:34 buddy who was I guess our deacto CEO or 4:19:37 COO or C something something. Um so 4:19:40 there there really is no one between 4:19:43 owner and the departments. Um it's it's 4:19:47 a difficult it's difficult. We have a 4:19:50 new patrol director this year. Um our 4:19:52 previous one was fired in the spring. 4:19:54 So, we're learning. We're just learning 4:19:56 this relationship now and we'll we'll 4:19:58 see where it goes. Um, yeah, I don't 4:20:02 >> It's not great. 4:20:04 >> Yeah, I I would agree with what Graham 4:20:07 said, and I I think I would just 4:20:09 elaborate on that. 4:20:12 Our relationship within our patrol team 4:20:14 with our management, you know, with our 4:20:17 supervisors being part of the union, we 4:20:19 really only have four people. 4:20:23 Yeah. four people outside of the union 4:20:25 that are part of the patrol department. 4:20:28 And um the people who are outside the 4:20:30 union, the patrol department we have a 4:20:32 really excellent relationship with. Um 4:20:35 they 4:20:37 we're a really tight-knit unit and um 4:20:40 even though it was hard and stressful 4:20:42 for them sometimes, it was really in my 4:20:45 opinion pretty easy for us to talk about 4:20:47 that when we came back to work. Um, and 4:20:51 they're very supportive. But 4:20:55 yeah, I I think our our relationship 4:20:57 with management is is not great, but 4:20:59 it's because the management is very 4:21:01 dysfunctional, not because they 4:21:05 are like out to to there isn't 4:21:08 management. There's like a crazy 4:21:11 CEO billionaire. And so, 4:21:16 you know, they they're not like out to 4:21:19 it doesn't feel like they're like out to 4:21:20 get us or anything. He's there's no 4:21:23 plan. That's like that's the biggest 4:21:24 thing. That's what Graham always says. 4:21:25 He's like, if you think there's some 4:21:27 evil master plan, there's not. There 4:21:31 never is. 4:21:38 Uh guys, we're going to go with those 4:21:40 two hands that were raised and then 4:21:41 we're going to call it. 4:21:44 If you had to do it again, what would 4:21:46 you do differently? 4:21:52 >> Start with one thing and I'll pass to 4:21:54 Graham. Um, 4:21:57 our our big thing we think feel like we 4:22:00 lost the reigns on was our relationship 4:22:01 with the small business community. 4:22:04 I think and we learned this from Park 4:22:06 City after that they had done some some 4:22:08 leg work before the strike to make those 4:22:11 connections. um we didn't have a really 4:22:14 reliable line of communication with this 4:22:16 like small business organization in 4:22:18 Telide which is a lot of Main Street 4:22:20 businesses and so by the the time but 4:22:25 Telleski did and so by the time we 4:22:29 realized they were getting a ton of 4:22:31 misinformation and had decided that we 4:22:34 were the enemy and were like lighting 4:22:36 their torches and getting their 4:22:37 pitchfork because it was too late um to 4:22:39 really get a hold on that narrative. 4:22:42 I think if we could do it again, we 4:22:44 would do that leg work, go in door todo 4:22:48 and put together an email list, you 4:22:50 know, a communication sign up of some 4:22:52 sort where we could directly interface 4:22:54 with these people that we knew would be 4:22:57 affected. I think we also maybe 4:22:58 underestimated how much they would be 4:23:01 affected. We thought people would be 4:23:03 like trapped in Tellide, but because the 4:23:05 ski area closed, that didn't happen. And 4:23:09 I think it's would be to just hedge your 4:23:11 bets and establish those relationships 4:23:14 in the community. Give them someone to 4:23:16 talk to from your your unit that they 4:23:21 can ask questions to because in the 4:23:23 absence of that, they're just going to 4:23:25 get together and like talk [ __ ] and get 4:23:28 upset because they're scared of what's 4:23:31 happening. 4:23:34 I think to build on that with the 4:23:36 businesses and the community um would 4:23:38 have been a more robust discussion on 4:23:41 the timing. Um 4:23:44 we I know from experience that that 4:23:47 Chuck doesn't care and doesn't care 4:23:49 about money. Um I think we all 4:23:52 underestimated 4:23:54 I don't know the stupidity um of of 4:23:57 management that they just did not care. 4:24:00 um they'll they're going to close the 4:24:01 mountain down and whatever. And so maybe 4:24:05 the holidays was still the best choice. 4:24:08 Um but I think we could have talked 4:24:09 about that more. Maybe we should have 4:24:10 just gone out from the get-go. Um I 4:24:13 think that warranted more discussion 4:24:15 looking back. 4:24:19 I don't know if I would have done 4:24:20 anything differently because I didn't 4:24:22 have a lot of power and say over the 4:24:24 whole unit, but something I wish I was 4:24:27 mentally prepared for was how hard it 4:24:29 would be to go back to work and rebuild 4:24:32 relationships with supervisors and it at 4:24:35 because they were working when we were 4:24:36 on strike and at the end of the day I 4:24:38 think it's on them and they don't 4:24:40 understand what we were doing and we got 4:24:42 them a huge raise. Um, but I didn't 4:24:45 expect that and that was naive to think. 4:24:48 So, 4:24:50 you will burn relationships and you have 4:24:52 to remember that do you care enough to 4:24:56 keep those um to not like be a part of 4:24:59 an amazing movement. So, I think it's 4:25:01 completely worth it to go on strike and 4:25:03 be a part of something this amazing, 4:25:06 this cool for these people that care and 4:25:09 damage relationships. And if the people 4:25:11 that are taking it personally cared 4:25:13 enough, they would understand that. 4:25:19 >> I think I'll speak to this specifically 4:25:20 from like the media and marketing side 4:25:22 of like we thought we had a clear 4:25:25 message of like what we were asking for. 4:25:28 Um, you know, what was going on in the 4:25:29 room and I think you always know the 4:25:32 news always gets it wrong, but like this 4:25:34 was my first time like being in the 4:25:35 thing the news was talking about. And I 4:25:38 would read these articles and I'd be 4:25:39 like, "What? But where did you get that 4:25:40 from? Um, so I I would have loved to 4:25:44 have like a we had specific people who 4:25:47 were supposed to talk to media and we 4:25:49 did a good job of that, but I don't 4:25:50 think those people had like a coherent 4:25:54 um message they were giving. Uh, so I 4:25:56 think going back we would have had a 4:25:58 more robust plan of like this is what 4:26:00 you're going to say to the to media, 4:26:02 this is what we're going to put out. Um, 4:26:05 yeah, and just that way it just is more 4:26:08 clear. I think we had so many people who 4:26:09 were so confused what we were asking 4:26:11 for, what we wanted. Um, and I think 4:26:14 yeah, that that's what I would change. 4:26:25 Um, I was curious what like what an 4:26:28 ideal day on strike looks like. Um, I 4:26:31 was kind of a distant observer, but I 4:26:33 know tell you you guys did some like 4:26:34 food stuff for the community. I don't 4:26:36 know if you were doing soup or I mean 4:26:37 what type of like community volunteering 4:26:39 and outreach and how can you spend your 4:26:41 time on strike? Um yeah. 4:26:49 >> Uh I think it was the ultimate like 4:26:50 divide and conquer. Um we had our board 4:26:54 and negotiators that like um honestly 4:26:56 didn't spend that much time on the 4:26:57 picket line because they were so busy, 4:26:59 you know, doing the meetings and like 4:27:00 thank goodness for that. Um, I think we 4:27:04 had an awesome group of people who like 4:27:06 managed the signs. Um, you know, that 4:27:08 they went to one place every night. Um, 4:27:11 and then they were able to pick them 4:27:13 back up the next morning. So, like that 4:27:14 was really important. We had a another 4:27:16 similar group like dealing with the 4:27:18 food. Um, yeah, we got a lot of food 4:27:21 donations and that was gnarly to keep 4:27:24 track of and like not waste it, you 4:27:26 know, because that's not what you're 4:27:27 trying to do. Um, so yeah, I think like 4:27:29 divide and conquer is the only way to do 4:27:32 it because there was just so much going 4:27:34 on. 4:27:38 >> Um, an ideal day would be I think we 4:27:41 learned how to how to focus on the 4:27:42 little things and those little things 4:27:43 were going to add up um to the big 4:27:45 picture. And we'd start every morning 4:27:47 just ourselves with a little uh maybe an 4:27:50 inspirational quote or something and be 4:27:52 be meeting away from the public eye. Um, 4:27:54 we'd build that consensus um for the day 4:27:57 of what we want to do. We'd leave it up 4:27:59 to the group. We'd leave it up to those 4:28:00 captains or or rahas um whoever they 4:28:03 were for the day. Uh where they wanted 4:28:06 to go and when they wanted to go and how 4:28:08 they wanted to go about it. Um we let 4:28:10 the group determine 4:28:12 together um how they wanted to go about 4:28:14 their actions. Um, and uh, some things 4:28:18 we learned, some things work, some 4:28:19 things didn't work, and some things were 4:28:21 just needed to be changed a little. And 4:28:23 and and moving around and not staying in 4:28:25 the shadows. Um, and yeah, going up to 4:28:28 the village, getting we we learned going 4:28:30 up into the sun was an important part of 4:28:32 our day. Um, as as little as that that 4:28:36 sounds, but embracing the little things 4:28:38 and the minutiae of every day of walking 4:28:39 over to to the places together. Um, 4:28:44 yeah. 4:28:47 I guess just to talk a little bit about 4:28:49 our like community relief efforts. Um 4:28:56 we did, you know, a few different 4:28:58 things. Um like we were, you know, 4:29:02 trying to host like an inexpensive lunch 4:29:06 or um food drives during our strike, 4:29:09 which um I think, you know, felt pretty 4:29:12 good. It also felt like we were was 4:29:14 trying to do everything, 4:29:17 you know, when we had our whole unit to 4:29:19 be looking out for who also wasn't 4:29:22 getting paid during this time. Um, but 4:29:26 we were we're doing a bit of that and I 4:29:28 think I don't regret doing that. Um, but 4:29:31 it would have been worth having, you 4:29:34 know, kind of a separate committee to be 4:29:37 working on that. And then, you know, 4:29:39 just to also speak a little bit about 4:29:41 like the community reception of that 4:29:44 type of thing. Like there's going to be 4:29:45 people who are angry that you're on 4:29:47 strike and a lot of people, you know, 4:29:49 the loudest voices were like, you know, 4:29:51 I don't want a [ __ ] free lunch. I 4:29:53 want to go back to work. And it's like, 4:29:55 well, yeah, us too. Um, but but there 4:29:59 were a lot of people who were really 4:30:00 grateful for that. And I think, you 4:30:03 know, people can talk [ __ ] all they 4:30:06 want. like it was a beneficial thing to 4:30:08 do for the community. Um, even if people 4:30:11 were mad at us for doing it. 4:30:20 >> Only if you say it into the microphone. 4:30:25 >> I was uh listening to a couple things 4:30:27 you guys said and I did want to talk a 4:30:29 little bit about what happens on my end. 4:30:32 Um because the Park City strike, the 4:30:35 folks that were on the bargaining 4:30:37 committee were really worried because 4:30:38 you know I made a little joke about 4:30:40 holidays, but most people are on 4:30:42 holidays at that time and they were 4:30:43 like, "Look, if we go on strike in 4:30:45 Christmas or the CWA people that say 4:30:47 yes, are they going to be available?" 4:30:49 And I was like, "Yeah, yeah." Uh and I 4:30:53 wasn't 100% sure they were either. Um we 4:30:56 have a nine-page strike manual. It kind 4:30:58 of walks you through some of the things 4:30:59 you do to for the prep. Um, but I 4:31:03 distinctly remember I got a telephone 4:31:05 call from my big boss in the district in 4:31:07 district 7 here and she had the big boss 4:31:09 from DC and it was like, have they done 4:31:12 this? Yes. What about this? Yes. Yes. 4:31:15 Yes. Yes. I mean, you guys had prepped 4:31:17 so well specifically at Park City and 4:31:19 then you trained Tellide that um I can 4:31:23 remember Sylvia saying, "Sounds like you 4:31:25 got your [ __ ] together. I'll get the 4:31:27 approval." And so if that happens, um I 4:31:30 mean the more prepared you are, the 4:31:32 easier the easier it is for me, um to 4:31:36 say that to them. Uh one of the things 4:31:38 y'all were talking about, you got to 4:31:39 make the picket line fun. Anything you 4:31:40 do with members, it's got to be fun. 4:31:42 They have got to be having fun. So 4:31:44 whatever way you can make it fun, make 4:31:46 it fun. Um redirect that anger from the 4:31:51 other workers on the mountain and from 4:31:52 the town folk. Why are they mad at us? 4:31:55 I'm not a [ __ ] billionaire. The 4:31:57 billionaire could stop this right now. 4:32:00 And I mean, we're not asking for too 4:32:01 much. So, redirect the anger. Um, I've 4:32:05 always heard this since I've been in the 4:32:07 union movement, like we decide when we 4:32:08 want to go out on strike, right? We take 4:32:10 the vote, we call the damn strike. We 4:32:12 don't get to decide when we go back. 4:32:14 That's why all this runup uh is so 4:32:17 important. I mean, to break even into a 4:32:19 strike would suck that you did all that, 4:32:20 but to lose in a strike, think about how 4:32:23 bad that would be. And so, uh, the last 4:32:25 thing I want to say is the CWA strike 4:32:27 fund technically is called the MRF, the 4:32:30 members relief fund. And so, the 4:32:32 situation that you heard a little bit 4:32:33 about that kind of we kind of buzzed by 4:32:35 that. There was a person who was a 4:32:37 patroller at Park City and his wife was 4:32:39 about to give birth any minute and they 4:32:41 they were like, "What's going to happen 4:32:42 with my healthcare? What's this? What's 4:32:43 that?" I have some leeway in the members 4:32:46 relief fund. And I I say this I always 4:32:49 feel like I'm taking a risk when I say 4:32:51 this because most of you all have heard 4:32:52 the story about the ant and the 4:32:53 grasshopper. Grasshopper didn't do [ __ ] 4:32:55 The ants were busy the whole time. 4:32:57 Grasshopper did without. I mean we can't 4:32:59 encourage people to be the grasshopper. 4:33:02 But I mean a as an organization the big 4:33:05 CWA is not going to let you lose your 4:33:07 house. They're not going to let you not 4:33:09 have health care to pay for that baby. I 4:33:12 mean, they may not pay your mortgage on 4:33:14 your second or third house or your 4:33:16 fourth four-wheeler, but I mean, if 4:33:18 you've made a solid effort or you know 4:33:20 that we have members out there and 4:33:21 there's a real hardship, bring it to me 4:33:23 and I'll do what I can to try to help 4:33:25 and not have to dig into you all's 4:33:26 money. Thank you all. 4:33:33 >> Thanks for that, Gary. Um, can I get a 4:33:35 round of applause for our panelists? 4:33:36 Thank you guys so much. 4:33:39 Um, and before before I send you guys 4:33:43 back to back to Jenpa, I don't know. I'm 4:33:46 looking broadly, man. I'm just 4:33:48 crosseyed. It's fine. 4:33:51 Um, uh, would you guys like to add any 4:33:54 other reflections? 4:34:02 >> The mic? 4:34:03 >> Yes, it does. 4:34:04 >> If it comes to it, don't be afraid to go 4:34:06 on strike. 4:34:08 It really sucks, but it's also really 4:34:10 powerful. I think 4:34:12 >> that's what he wanted to hear. 4:34:16 >> Yeah. 4:34:19 >> Yeah. I'm glad I did it once. I don't 4:34:21 ever want to do it again. So that's 4:34:23 Yeah. 4:34:29 >> Sweet. Thank you guys. 4:34:33 MIGHT 4:34:50 All 4:35:07 right, guys. We're almost there. 4:35:10 um 4:35:13 you know, we were going to offer uh a 4:35:16 collective bargaining 4:35:18 um workshop 4:35:21 as well as 4:35:23 uh Lowry's mental health workshop. And I 4:35:27 just want to see a show of hands who's 4:35:29 planning on going to collective 4:35:30 bargaining. 4:35:34 Okay, enough that we're gonna offer it. 4:35:35 Sweet. Um, 4:35:40 so we have workshops coming up. I'm not 4:35:42 going to ask you guys to come back in 4:35:44 here for adjournment. And so what I'm 4:35:45 going to do right now is go through my 4:35:47 kind of like adjournment notes. Okay. So 4:35:52 bear with me here. 4:35:57 Okay. Um, tonight highside in Fris, 4:36:03 not in Breenidge. In Fris. Yeah. So, go 4:36:06 to the right, please. 4:36:08 Um, what time, Bobby? 4:36:12 >> 6:30. 4:36:16 >> Brex key patrol band. Chief complaint 4:36:17 will be playing six o'clock. Be there. 4:36:23 Um, 4:36:26 let's see. We're having tonight or 4:36:29 sorry, tomorrow night. Uh, sorry, 4:36:31 tonight after party at Travis's house. 4:36:36 Bring the toast. Bring your toasters. 4:36:40 Tomorrow night, bonfire at Theo's house 4:36:44 in Silverthorn. Details to follow. Is 4:36:48 some questions here. Is anyone here not 4:36:50 on the email thread that was started uh 4:36:52 yesterday for all of the attendees? 4:36:57 Yeah, that's awesome. Oh, no. Dang it. 4:37:00 Okay. Well, we'll get together later. 4:37:05 Uh, is anyone here without a place to 4:37:09 stay that is confirmed tonight, tomorrow 4:37:12 night? Any of that, 4:37:15 dude? We're nailing it. That's awesome. 4:37:18 Um, 4:37:20 I understand how much we all resent 4:37:22 group photos and and the use of the 4:37:25 internet and smiling in general and and 4:37:29 the attitude of being jovial. But, um, 4:37:33 we're we're going to take just so that 4:37:35 we don't have to come back here and do 4:37:36 it after this workshop. Um, everybody 4:37:40 right here right now, we're going to 4:37:42 come up to the front of the room and we 4:37:44 are going to take a group photo, 4:37:45 including you, Zach. 4:38:00 Don't be shy now. Come on. Come on.