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On Aug. 1, after contract negotiations stalled, Sotheby’s sent letters to the art handlers telling them not to return for work. Their dispute involves shortened work weeks and also the collective bargaining rights of new hires. Sotheby’s initiated the lockout a month after the art handlers’ contract expired. Then they hired temporary employees to replace the union art handlers. The lockout comes after the company announced record profits for the first half of 2011.
Opulent Sothebys' Appalling Treatment of Its Workers Is a Perfect Symbol of the Out of Touch 1%
Seeded on Fri Nov 11, 2011 3:14 PM EST
Article Source: AlterNet.org- Enjoy this article? Help vote it up the 'Vine.
- Public Discussion (5)
The sale where this event occurred resulted in $315 million worth of art changing hands, which was $45 million over original estimates. This, while people are losing their homes, jobs and health insurance. Is it any wonder that protesters are in the streets?
Solidarity!
- 3 votes
#1 - Fri Nov 11, 2011 3:16 PM ESTThe auction world is a rarefied one, that's for sure. I worked in the industry for 7 years. Incredible amounts of money changing hands--but there was some good, too. Our specialists would often find incredible art and antiques in the homes of average people, netting them a nice check.
And then there was the debate of departments like Natural History--should items like fossil plates and the like be sold, or in museums for all to wonder at? And the Arms and Armor department that sold NAZI memorabilia.
- 1 vote
#2 - Fri Nov 11, 2011 3:36 PM ESTAnd as to the pay--when I started, the auction house I worked for was privately owned, by one of San Francisco's wealthiest men. I took a pay CUT to work there, from a non-profit. The work was interesting, but save for executives and big-deal specialists, pay was low. We joked that there was a reason the owner was rich, he kept his money to himself. Benefits were decent and we had things like lobster day--the owner flew fresh frozen lobster from his home in Maine for each of us and opera tickets (the main room of the San Francisco Opera bears his name).
It stayed that way after eBay bought the company, though the benefits were slightly better and we had stock options--even with the high buy-in, I made a few thousand from them.
Would I work in the industry again? Maybe. It was fun, the people, clients and coworkers alike fascinating. But there was a good deal of "funny accounting" and trickery involved...especially on the auction floor, trying to get a piece bid up to the minimum amount and making it look like an item sold, when it simply hadn't met the "reserve" (minimum) bid and deals for regular clients on both sides, buyers and sellers. eBay tried to clean it up, make the reserves visible and all, but failed for the most part as a clean auction house isn't profitable. Auctions are a rich man's hobby, evening in the day-to-day work of it all.
- 1 vote
good for Sotheby's , hiring of the non union people probably increased productivity,customer satisfaction and at the same time saved them money
- 2 votes
#3 - Fri Nov 11, 2011 4:43 PM ESTNo, Bob. It is part of the anti-union movement among the wealthy in this country. Workers should be laid off, have their salaries cut and forego medical coverage so that their bosses can spend $60 million on a painting?
That's not a world I would support living in. We ignore and encourage the perpetuation of this inequity at our peril.
- 1 vote
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