Video | On strike at the Kimpton Clocktower Hotel

Ish Tominey-Nevado spoke to Unite members at the Kimpton Clocktower Hotel in Manchester out on strike against their employer InterContinental Hotels Group UK (IHG) over union-busting activities, last minute rotas, sick pay and conditions.

Following months of union busting by their employer InterContinental Hotels Group, the United Kimpton Workers have begun the first hotel strike in the North West of England for decades.

The workers at this luxury hotel in Manchester described an understaffed, poorly equipped workplace with inadequate sick pay and last minute shift rotas, late distributed rotas most acutely affecting women members of staff. The workers have responded to these conditions by launching a collective grievance and connecting with hospitality workers across the country fighting against insecure and low-paid work in sectors notoriously challenging to organise in.

Their unionisation efforts and a request for formal union recognition at the hotel have led to the firing of two Unite representatives and the increasingly unfair and harsh treatment of active union members by management. With IHG UK cancelling meetings aiming to end the dispute and negotiations falling through, the Kimpton workers walked out on the 30th June. At the strike’s first picket, I spoke to striking workers about organising in the hotel sector and how we can show solidarity with their struggle at the Kimpton.

You can support their strike by:

• Come down to their picket on the 4th July from 10am and the 5th July from 1pm
• Donating to their strike fund https://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/p/support-kimpton-clocktower-strikers
• Signing their petition here https://actionnetwork.org/forms/no-to-union-busting-at-kimpton-clocktower-hotel
• And following their campaign socials at @unitedkimptonworkers on Instagram for further updates