Staff at Liverpool’s Adelphi Hotel could strike at Christmas following a dispute over pay.
Britannia Hotels, who own the iconic city centre venue, are claimed to have ‘flatly’ refused to negotiate either a pay rise or even end zero-hour contracts.
The RMT trade union which represents the Adelphi’s workers will ballot its members over industrial action which could see walkouts over the festive period.
An eight-hour demonstration is planned outside the hotel on Friday as the RMT seeks the National Living Wage Foundation’s minimum pay rate of £8.45 per hour.
“The Adelphi has benefited massively from the increase in tourism that Liverpool has enjoyed in recent years, and all we have asked is that hotel staff get a fair share of the profits their hard work has generated,” RMT General Secretary Mick Cash told the Liverpol Echo.
“Britannia can clearly afford to pay a living wage, but so far they have chosen to bury their heads in the sand and demand even more work from staff who are already over-stretched and grotesquely underpaid.
“Britannia boss Alex Langsam has amassed a personal fortune of £220 million on the back of poverty wages and is now on the Sunday Times Rich List, and our members are telling us that they will no longer accept being treated like Victorian-era servants.
“We have even had to complain to the Information Commissioner over the hotel’s use of CCTV with sound to spy on the workforce.
“Britannia Adelphi bosses now have a choice.
“They can carry on down the road to confrontation or they can sit around the table and hammer out a deal that reflects the true value of their staff – and we are ready to talk when they are.”