Often Living ‘Hand to Mouth,’ Local River Guides Weigh in on Wage Increase

President Biden ordered outfitters operating on federal lands pay their guides a $15 minimum wage. And outfitters aren’t happy, including those here in Moab. There’s even a lawsuit by an industry association to stop the order. Today on the news, we speak with guides about their pay, an outfitter about their costs, and whether our rivers can provide workers with real careers.

Note – when KZMU News started reaching out to local river guides on these issues, none wanted to go on the record with their name or workplace for fear of losing their jobs. All guides featured in this story are contributing their thoughts anonymously. 

If you are a guide or an outfitter and want to share your thoughts about pay or working conditions – or anything else – we’d like to hear from you. You can send an email to news@kzmu.org.

---

Listen to this story by clicking the ‘play’ button above

---

“One of the things that’s happened to a lot of people [who work] in tourism is they’ve been sort of infantilized. We’re not going to pay you like an adult, you’re not going to get to own a house like an adult, you’re not going to get a wife or a husband or kid, you’re not going to be able to envision financial stability.”

ANONYMOUS GUIDE

“It’s weird that we’re even at this point that people have been kind of treated as sort of disposable and there hasn’t been this investment in quality or really good safety. We’re just kind of flying by the seat of our pants.”

ANONYMOUS GUIDE

---

Photo: Rafters paddle down the Colorado River in the Grand Canyon in Arizona. Courtesy Flickr user Al_HikesAZ/Creative Commons

---

“I don’t know many river guides that live in a house….they’re living hand to mouth really”

anonymous guide

“If people were paid the value of their work, it would open up paths to stability, to self esteem. It’d be incredible. It’d be life changing for people.”

ANONYMOUS GUIDE

---

The Colorado River. The Colorado River Outfitters Association is suing the government to stop the wage increase. Credit Justin Higginbottom

---

“There’s something really magical about deeply knowledgeable guides. And for this reason, I highly value companies with high guide retention rates — companies that… are able to keep their guides around.”

ANONYMOUS GUIDE

“Twenty years from now people can say…you know, we got to fend for those river guy jobs because they’re great and they built this town and those guys have pensions and they make living wages and get to buy houses and retire. We could be…raising the standard here… in the new industries of the booming tourism Western economy.”

ANONYMOUS GUIDE

---

Guides navigate a Western River. Outfitters around the country have come out against a $15 minimum wage for guides. Credit Creative Commons

---

Justin Higginbottom reported this story

Show Notes

Photo: Rafters paddle down the Colorado River in the Grand Canyon in Arizona. Courtesy Flickr user Al_HikesAZ/Creative Commons

4/27/21 White House Brief: Biden-Harris Administration Issues an Executive Order to Raise the Minimum Wage to $15 for Federal Contractors 

https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2021/04/27/fact-sheet-biden-harris-administration-issues-an-executive-order-to-raise-the-minimum-wage-to-15-for-federal-contractors/

8/27/21 U.S. Outdoor Rec Industry Letter

https://www.americaoutdoors.org/assets/1/27/Affiliated_Outfitter_Association_comments_on_DOL_federal_contractor_min_wage_NOPR_comments_-_Aug_27_2021.pdf

Music Featured in Today’s News:

Day Bird by Broke For Free