ART HANDLER LOCKOUTS AT SOTHEBY’S NET $2.4 MILLION IN EXPENSES

Phillip Boroff reports for Bloomberg that the labor dispute at Sotheby’s, over which art handlers have spent the past four months on lockout, has cost the company an estimated $2.4 million. Sotheby’s has since used temporary workers and states they are eager for a resolution. Board member Diana Taylor, who, as artforum.com reported on here, told workers that if any of their demands were met, she would resign from the board, stated, “this is the last thing we wanted.”

Sotheby’s has proposed cutting the art handlers’ workweek while increasing their temporary labor force. The union that represents the handlers, Local 814 of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, said that the new work rules would decrease eligibility for overtime, resulting in up to a 15 percent salary cut. Additionally, temporary workers without medical or pension benefits would begin to replace unionized art handlers.

Sotheby’s states that the changes they are proposing “won’t eventually result in all handlers being non-union.” Despite proposed cuts to the art handler’s salaries, Boroff reports that chief executive officer William Ruprecht’s salary doubled last year to $6 million dollars. “We do think it’s ironic that the entire union contract costs $3.3 million and Ruprecht got a raise for $3 million,” said Jason Ide, the president of Local 814. Boroff notes that Phillips declined to comment.