ITF Applauds Sotheby's Art Protest Thursday
London-headquartered global union the ITF has come out in support of an international protest to be held at auctioneers Sotheby’s.
The demonstration will be held this Thursday, 13 October at 18:00 outside Sotheby’s Auction House at 34-35 New Bond Street, London W1A 2AA, where an invitation-only evening auction is expected to attract some of the planet’s richest people to bid for three Lucian Freud paintings and other contemporary works such as an 18 carat gold statuette of Kate Moss.
Invitations to the black tie event do not extend to those who will be outside to protest against the company’s treatment of the professional art handlers – workers responsible for the care and dispatch of thousands of works of art a day around the world – at Sotheby’s in New York.
The 43 art handlers have been locked out of their jobs since August, after the US-owned company, which is currently enjoying record profits, demanded that the workers take significant pay cuts and give the company the right to terminate their retirement plan. The handlers have been replaced by non-unionised temporary workers, including, allegedly, strikebreaking non-US personnel brought into the country on tourist visas.
Among those protesting in London will be Dorian Malloy, who worked for Sotheby’s for seven years as a handler before being locked out, and former handler, Jason Ide, who is president of Teamsters Local (branch) 814, which represents the affected workers. Both men are available for interview ahead of the event, which is the latest in a continuing series of protests at Sotheby’s auction houses around the world. For more details pleas see www.sothebysbadforart.com/content; www.teamster.org/content/teamsters-sothebys-bad-art; and www.teamster.org/content/teamsters-call-sothebys-board-oust-murdoch.
ITF (International Transport Workers’ Federation, the global union federation of which the Teamsters is one of 779 member unions worldwide) general secretary David Cockroft commented: “Sotheby’s is an international business, whose highly profitable lifeblood is the constant shipping of artworks around this and almost every country in the world. Sadly, in a year in which they have declared record profits of USD680 million and are planning similarly record salaries for their top people, they have tried to force pay cuts on those at the other end of the scale.”
“These workers won’t be among the ultra-rich queuing to part with, or be seen parting with, a fortune for a gold effigy of Kate Moss, but they will be very much present at the event. And at the next one, and the one after that, until common justice prevails. And their case will be taken up by many more, including the other transport workers who ensure that art and antiquities travel safely around the world.”