The local hotel workers union on Thursday called for a boycott of the Hilton Long Beach hotel, saying the hotel has blocked efforts to unionize the workers.

Unite HERE Local 11 was joined by community activists, religious leaders and local academic figures in announcing the boycott and claimed to have the support of about 90 of the hotel’s total staff of 180.

One Hilton Long Beach customer, the United Church for Christ, has publicly announced it will honor the boycott and move its scheduled event to another hotel.

For over a year, Unite HERE Local 11 has been locked in a bitter dispute with Hilton Long Beach management over its unionizing drive. The union claims hotel management has harassed workers expressing interest in joining the union.

Hotel executives, in turn, claim the union is denying hotel workers the right to a secret ballot election by pushing for card-check voting.

“If a labor dispute is in effect as we come closer to our event date, it is most likely that we would be unable to use the Long Beach Hilton as a General Synod hotel,” United Church for Christ representative Edith Guffey said.

Kristi Allen, general manager of the Hilton Long Beach hotel, said in a statement that the boycott would “drive away business in the worst economy in recent history The union’s tactics are bad for our employees, this hotel and the Long Beach community.”

Allen said that the United Church of Christ’s event wasn’t until 2013.

The 397-room Hilton Long Beach Hotel is owned and operated by HEI Hotels & Resorts.