J2Ski Forum Posts and Replies by verbier_ski_bum

andyhull wrote:But the salary is only a small part of the package. How much is the accommodation, food, travel, passes worth on top? Not to mention the experience.
If it was slave labour you wouldn't have hundreds of youngsters queuing up to do it year after year. Many of them returning for a second or third season.

So how much does travel cost? 500 swiss francs return - max.. Or do they fly personnel with business class and big carriers? This is one single expense per contract. I suppose often staff is being shipped on charters like Thompson etc. so it's even less. I also saw typical accommodation and there is no way it can account for alleged deductions. And they eat in, so can't see it making up numbers too. I saw jobs advertised on Natives, 100 pounds a week. 10 hours a day, 6 days a week. In Switzerland. Are you seriously suggesting that they deduce 3000 Swiss francs a month for food and accommodation? I live in this country and I know how much things cost and I can safely assume that chalet workers are being robbed of their wages.

There are only two types that matter - people who can ski and people who can't.

It's not a great difference but it's 70 francs more for the annual pass now. For a day pass you probably pay 2-3 francs more now but I am not too sure as haven't checked prices for day passes

March is a good month generally unless winter happens to be warm. But even then upper slopes don't get very slushy till around noon.

Dave, you are missing the point about rates of pay. You should get paid Swiss wage if you work and live in Switzerland. Or a French rate - if you work and live in France etc. The average rates of European pay are irrelevant and do not define in any way what's over and what's below the edge of 'slave labour' in Switzerland.

And the net result is an increase in ticket prices...

So, there we go. The deal has been extended for another 18 years. http://www.lenouvelliste.ch/fr/valais/valais/le-domaine-des-4-vallees-est-sauve-jean-marie-fournier-televeysonnaz-dedommage-498-1343092

If they bang their heads off the wall hard enough it might help. Just saying... poor chalet operators. In Switzerland they are not allowed to employ slave labour, in France they can't do "ski hosting". Maybe time has come actually to respect local laws and regulations, learn the concept of "fair competition" and find a new business model?