There’s a new lockout in town.
The NFL is back in business, the NBA is still on the sidelines, and now, more than 40 art handlers at Sotheby’s are walking a picket line after management at the auction house told them not to report to work this week.
The workers, who handle Picassos, Rembrandts and other pricey artwork for the auction house, have been without a contract since the beginning of July. They got word in letters received Friday afternoon that they’d be locked out starting Monday.
“This was not an outcome Sotheby’s wanted,” a spokeswoman for the auction house said in a statement. “We have been negotiating in good faith since May and had offered a contract with attractive terms which unfortunately they did not accept.”
The move by management came as a surprise to the workers and officials at their union, Teamsters Local 814, who said they had believed that negotiations would continue. “We’ve exchanged our proposals, but we’re not even into the heart of bargaining,” said Jason Ide, the union’s president. “Clearly somebody over there made a decision they’d rather bargain with us outside walking the picket line.”
