ONE of the most popular hotel bars during Manchester’s Pride festival is to be hit by a strike over union-busting, Unite said today.

Workers at Kimpton Clocktower will stage a 24-hour walk out on Saturday, the festival’s opening day, which has historically been the most lucrative day of the year for their employer.

The bar is located very close to the parade route and has run Pride events for several years.

For months, workers at Kimpton Clocktower, owned by InterContinental Hotels Group UK (IHG), have been seeking formal union recognition to improve their conditions after raising several issues with management.

IHG UK has refused to recognise Unite and has also sacked two senior union representatives on “trumped-up charges and held a disciplinary for another which resulted in a formal warning,” said the union.

“Unite believes they were targeted for undertaking union activities, something which is illegal under UK employment law,” added a spokesman.

Regional officer Alison Treacher said: “A strike on Kimpton’s most profitable day is entirely of its own making.

“Throughout this dispute, Kimpton Clocktower management have treated its loyal workforce with contempt and our members have shown they will not stand for it.

“There is still time to avoid this highly disruptive strike action, but that relies on IHG changing tack by listening to its members and giving them the union recognition they have long been calling for.”

Unite general secretary Sharon Graham added: “Our members at Kimpton Clocktower are simply seeking to be represented by their union, but instead of granting them this, management has bullied them and undertaken union-busting at every turn.”

The company was contacted for comment.