12 replies to this topic

[spark's]

Our job's are being threatened every day.... Be it our budget seeming ridiculous... A Manager going off the deep end because they no what is the in evadable... The ski bis is so shaky i sometimes question why we do it... With every mechanic in here i bet we put million's of people in the air every day... WOW I guess i dont make enough money to understand??? http://www.timesargus.com/apps/pbcs.dll/ar...JUSTIN/70627002

[SkiBachelor]

Or it could be that there were a lot of unnecessary people working at Killington/Pico and that those jobs weren't needed. I'm not sure how Killington/Pico are structured (as two separate ski areas or as one big one), but this would make sense if Powdr decided to merge the two.

However, I would have kept the older staff members. When ASC purchased Steamboat, it fired all the senior staff members and the town rebelled. I guess we will have to wait for a full investigation to be done.

[spark's]

SkiBachelor, on Jun 29 2007, 05:06 PM, said:

Or it could be that there were a lot of unnecessary people working at Killington/Pico and that those jobs weren't needed. I'm not sure how Killington/Pico are structured (as two separate ski areas or as one big one), but this would make sense if Powdr decided to merge the two.

However, I would have kept the older staff members. When ASC purchased Steamboat, it fired all the senior staff members and the town rebelled. I guess we will have to wait for a full investigation to be done.

Bach you make a point... There are alot of unnecessary people and job title's out there in our bis and any other company out there that make's more money than they can keep track of... I personally took a 6 dollar pay cut to move to a state i love and to work in a Carrier i love.... But what i guess i don't understand is why do i feel like i work in Singapore.... We hire as much foreign help as we can and blame it on the fact that we cant find help for 6-8 dollars an hour localy??? Well no s@$T!!! I wonder why I climb a tower in the middle of an ice storm to chip open a lift so someone looks good in the eye's of the BIG WIG'S only to turn around and have them say when it comes to review time to have them sit there and pretty much tell me i'm replaceable so don't expect much of a raise this year we're behind in number's????? I'm not sure but do lift manufacturer's now that when they hike up the price of a part up by 200% in one year and we need 50 of them that management thinks it's our fault the part went bad and it's all a conspiracy to get them to shell out more money???? Sorry but if anyone in the industry doesn't agree with me their just protecting their job and if something doesn't change we're gonna find ourself's working by ourself's.... Ohhh and anyone i might have of offended i'm srry

[skisox34]

Back in the day (5 years ago) when I worked at Killington they were really fat in the middle management department. Too many bosses trying to tell people what to do and not enough people actually doing it and from what I hear it was that way all the way back to the SKI ltd days, especially when Pico came into the fold because they gave all of them cushy comfortable jobs.

[Emax]

spark's, on Jun 29 2007, 01:46 PM, said:

Our job's are being threatened every day.... Be it our budget seeming ridiculous... A Manager going off the deep end because they no what is the in evadable... The ski bis is so shaky i sometimes question why we do it... With every mechanic in here i bet we put million's of people in the air every day... WOW I guess i dont make enough money to understand??? http://www.timesargus.com/apps/pbcs.dll/ar...JUSTIN/70627002

This same article has been posted in the SoRT industry section - and is currently under discussion. Powdercorp's action may or may not have been justified - until we know more, I think we must assume that the owner of any business has the right to organize it in the manner they see fit. So far, I've not heard if any of those who received pink slips were "trench workers" (like us).

Your comments on the importance of mechanics and technicians have been the subject of several threads - in fact, it is the content of these threads that drove Kelly to create the SoRT section of this site. It is hoped that as a group (the Society of Ropeway Technicians), we may be able to influence our industry to deal with its lift technical types in a manner more favorable to them. Presently, we are regarded as no more than a "labor pool" from which resorts can draw as needed. Members of any labor pool are considered (by business managers and some middle-management life forms) to be fungible - easily replaced with like kind. We must make it our goal to show that this is not the case.

Bottom line: uphill transportation is any ski resort's most important product. No amount of hamburgers, gift shops, rental operations, financial juggling, or even real estate development mean a damned thing unless the lift systems are operable and are safe. You can't sell tickets if the ride don't work.

[hoodoo]

Quote from SAM article
"Killington president Chris Nyberg noted that within Powdr Corp., each resort must fund improvements from its own resources."
So not true... at one of Powdr's resorts they sold off some valuable real estate in the 20 million upward figure from what I understand...and that resort did not see a dime of that money. Powdr is quickly reminding me of ASC management.
Take the money and run....

[Emax]

hoodoo, on Jul 6 2007, 11:15 AM, said:

Quote from SAM article
"Killington president Chris Nyberg noted that within Powdr Corp., each resort must fund improvements from its own resources."
So not true... at one of Powdr's resorts they sold off some valuable real estate in the 20 million upward figure from what I understand...and that resort did not see a dime of that money. Powdr is quickly reminding me of ASC management.
Take the money and run....

Could be... could be. Seems to me that Mt. Bachellor had some negative experience with them.

On the other hand, real estate is the most fluid asset a resort company has - short of "selling the store". Where the proceeds go is the business of of the corporate heads... and the Feds. If the resort sees them at all, it usually goes for glitz - new lifts... things that show. Seldom does any of it show up in hidden improvements like better upkeep, better wages, etc. The stress seem to be on BIGGER, not better.

As Arlo Guthrie would say: "Well, that's America."

[LuvPow]

Emax, on Jul 6 2007, 01:47 PM, said:

Could be... could be. Seems to me that Mt. Bachellor had some negative experience with them.

On the other hand, real estate is the most fluid asset a resort company has - short of "selling the store". Where the proceeds go is the business of of the corporate heads... and the Feds. If the resort sees them at all, it usually goes for glitz - new lifts... things that show. Seldom does any of it show up in hidden improvements like better upkeep, better wages, etc. The stress seem to be on BIGGER, not better.

As Arlo Guthrie would say: "Well, that's America."

Yea, the American Way... I wish our guests would consider that when they are screaming at the manager that is working 6 days aweek salaried at 40 hrs. about the lack of guest service ( which the ski area likes to say in orientaion is our primary goal) when every dept. across the board is understaffed due to cuts. But.. our choice to continue on I suppose.

[EagleAce]

Emax, on Jul 6 2007, 09:21 AM, said:

Members of any labor pool are considered (by business managers and some middle-management life forms) to be fungible - easily replaced with like kind. We must make it our goal to show that this is not the case.

Bottom line: uphill transportation is any ski resort's most important product. No amount of hamburgers, gift shops, rental operations, financial juggling, or even real estate development mean a damned thing unless the lift systems are operable and are safe. You can't sell tickets if the ride don't work.

You said it Bud! A lot of companies try and get rid of long-timers so they can pay a new employee less to do the same work (I've seen it happen in the park). And without lifts and the people to run and maintain them there's no ski business.

[Emax]

This seems as good a place as any to mention that:

Brian Head is looking for an electrical dude. I will train and orient.

PM me.

[mikest2]

Emax, on Jul 9 2007, 09:18 AM, said:

This seems as good a place as any to mention that:

Brian Head is looking for an electrical dude. I will train and orient.

PM me.

I've always wondered why we are not required to be disoriented when leaving a job ?

[Emax]

mikest2, on Jul 9 2007, 08:48 PM, said:

I've always wondered why we are not required to be disoriented when leaving a job ?

That's often the reason people leave a job...

[Emax]

QUOTE: "I've always wondered why we are not required to be disoriented when leaving a job ?"

It has occurred to me that the Army works in this way. They spent over a year "orienting" me, and when I left Vietnam I was completely disoriented. I suspect that a popular local herb had something to do with this.

This post has been edited by Emax: 22 July 2007 - 08:07 PM