Solidarity from Cambodia for locked-out Teamsters

Cambodian union members protest Sotheby's at the National Musem in Phnom Penh.

Cambodian news coverage of Sotheby's crass amorality follows bad press for the auction house in Geneva, London, Melbourne, Hong Kong and New York.

In keeping with its indifference to the rest of humanity, Sotheby's is refusing to return a 10th century warrior statue that was looted from Cambodia's killing fields during the murderous reign of the Khmer Rouge. The statue's value is estimated to be as high as $3 million.

The statue and its twin.

The Teamsters, who represent the 42 Sotheby's art handlers locked out for eight months, asked Cambodian unions to draw attention to Sotheby's bad behavior. On Friday, members of five Cambodian unions staged a protest at the National Museum to demand Sotheby's return the statue. Reports the Cambodian Daily,

The union members, who represent workers in the construction, tourism, civil service, airline, garment and informal sectors, distributed about 100 flyers demanding the prestigious auction house "respect Cambodia's culture" and return the 10th-century Duryodhana statue, which resurfaced on a Sotheby's auction catalog in March 2011.

Press conference.

The union members also held a press conference in which they discussed Sotheby's behavior as well as broader labor issues and the ASEAN People s Forum, which was being held in Phnom Penh.
The leaflets, written in the Khmer language, say:

It's no surprise Sotheby's values money more than morals. Sotheby's has locked out its mostly Latino and black New York aart handlers since August 1, 2011, stopping their paychecks and families' health care. But Sotheby's will use profits made from stolen Cambodian art and cuts in workers' health care to give its CEO a $3 million raise.

Sotheby's did pull the statue from the latest auction. But it won't budge in its efforts to force its workers into poverty,

It isn't clear when Sotheby's will finally understand how its reputation is tarnished by incessant bad press. The news media has covered Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and actress Susan Sarandon joining locked-out art handlers on the picket line. Sympathizers from the Occupy movement have disrupted auctions, fine dining restaurants, universities and museums.  Rather than a status symbol, Sotheby's has come to represent the corruption and callousness of the 1%.

Sign here to help Sotheby's Teamsters

Our brothers at Sotheby's will be out of work for five months by the end of December. On Jan. 1, they'll lose their health care benefits.

It's hard to fathom the callousness of a company that spends $2.4 million on union-busters so it can keep 42 hardworking art handlers out on the street. Even harder to understand how the shareholders would approve a $3 million raise for CEO Bill Ruprecht.

The photo above shows our brother Luis Baucage and his 5-month-old son. We don't think that little guy did anything to deserve the lump of coal he's getting Jan. 1 from Sotheby's. His dad and the 41 other art handlers from Local 814 are simmply standing together against a vindictive company that's trying to cut their pay and benefits while slowly dissolving the union. Just because Bill Ruprecht thinks he can get away with it.

A torrent of signatures telling Sotheby's to end the lockout will pressure them to do the right thing. Sign the petition here to help Teamster art handlers get their jobs back at good wages and benefits.

Workers and students of the world unite to protest Sotheby's

Solidarity with Sotheby's locked-out workers, Geneva.

Sotheby's reckless lock-out of 43 Teamster art handlers in the midst of an insanely profitable auction season has provoked condemnation from all quarters: Occupy Wall Street, the art press, international labor unions and university students.

The Columbia Spectator reported on a student protest of the university's former president's ties to Sotheby’s.

Columbia students protested outside Columbia Law School on Monday in opposition to former Columbia President Michael Sovern’s involvement in a lockout at the Sotheby’s auction house.

Sovern, who is currently a Law School professor, is the chairman of Sotheby’s, which replaced 42 art handlers after contract negotiations failed. Protestors said that Sotheby’s was attempting to cut those workers’ hours and pensions and that the unionized handlers have been replaced with non-unionized temp workers.

Yoni Golijov, CC ’12, decried Sotheby’s labor practices at the Columbia rally, which took place as part of the Student Week of Action, an offshoot of the Occupy Wall Street movement.

“Why would they effectively pay their CEO $60,000 a day when they demand their workers work without pension? How does that make sense?” Golijov said. “I’ll tell you how it makes sense—it’s greedy.”

Swiss unions held a solidarity demonstration for the locked-out art handlers in Geneva. Global union federations IUF, ICEM and IMF, along with UNI and UNIA participated. The Swiss media reported on the action. Reports UNI:

UNI, the other global union federations and Swiss unions held their demonstration in front of Sotheby’s Geneva location and gave patrons of a jewel auction information about management’s attacks on workers in New York City.

The New York employees, who are members of the Teamsters union in the US, have been shut out of the job by the company in an effort to force them to accept the outsourcing of their jobs to companies that employ temporary workers.

Sotheby’s has demanded pay cuts and the right to terminate the employees’ pensions. These cuts come after the auction house had one of its best years in its 267-year history and nearly doubled its CEO’s compensation to $6 million.

UNI will continue to support the global campaign against Sotheby’s anti-worker, anti-union campaign.

You can see more pictures on this Facebook page:
 
Not only have the protests created a link in the public's mind between "Sotheby's" and "reckless greed," but they've made it into the vernacular. Consider this recent New York Times story about the art market; includes a quote from Anthony Grant, a Sotheby's specialist in contemporary art:

“I hope the Occupy Wall Street group doesn’t show up,” Mr. Grant said to Meryl Rose, whose family founded the Rose Art Museum in Waltham, Mass. (About 100 protesters did show Wednesday night, shouting “Shame on you.” They were protesting a labor dispute between union art handlers and Sotheby’s. Bidders had to exit through a side door, but the auction, and spending spirit, were otherwise unmolested.)

To catch up on all the Sotheby's action (or inaction on the company's part), click here.

OO: Stop the war on workers and start feeding them!

Teamsters are feeding Oakland Occupiers from what one twitterer called "Friendly Teamster trucks." Joint Council 7 representative Rudy Gonzalez is sending us great photos of the Teamsters Action Team. They're cooking and grilling and doing the logistical thing for the giant labor cookout on Frank Ogawa Plaza. 

We understand Teamsters trucks are the focal point. Here's one twitterer:

@shesanightowl: Oh my god, everyone is out here, teamsters in their trucks lining the march, people in costume, babies, people in wheelchairs on stilts

We like this tweet:

@akasha2458: TEamsters. Such BIG rigs they have. - #globalrevolution live on http://t.co/hBZgpIsm

Here's a photo of one of the trucks, just as it arrived:

And here's a photo that shows how a supply chain works:

Early news accounts tell us many business shut down in support of the Occupy Oakland Day of Solidarity, with thousands -- maybe tens of thousands -- of people participating. The San Jose Mercury News reported:

While a number of pizza shops, cafes and other restaurants opened for business, some of the stores near the heart of the protest kept their doors closed today, including Walgreens, Rite Aid, Foot Locker, Spitz Jewelers, Lucky Money, Twilight Zone, and Scottrade, a stock trading company.

Men's Wearhouse, Saigon Restaurant and Oaklandish are also closed, in solidarity with the movement, and Oaksterdam University is closed as well.

And finally, here's one more photo with a familiar sign to all Teamsters.

Teamsters + Occupy Museums = Occupy Sotheby's

Yesterday in front of Sotheby's.

Paddy Johnson offers this report about last evening's Occupy Museums action against Sotheby's, in solidarity with our locked-out brothers from Local 814:

Rain did not deter this week’s Occupy Museums General Assembly, the second in what is an ongoing series of protests. Joined this week by the Art Handlers’ Union, Teamsters Local 814, a group of roughly 60 people collected on the steps of MoMA to protest a system they say has a funding structure and relationship to the market that “disempowers artists, and alienates art from the 99%”. From the museums, they traveled across town to join the picket lines at Sotheby’s just before the launch of their evening Prints sale.

The crowd of protesters was unusually diverse for an art-specific event and according to some protesters larger, even in the rain than last weeks. In attendance was one Guerrilla Girl, a performance poet, and several teamsters. Also, some requisite art folk and a bunch of theatre professionals.

Sounds like an interesting event. Johnson has more...

in front of Sotheby’s ... (n)o general assembly took place, but a clammer of whistle blowing, bells, and chanting could be heard nearly two blocks over. Art handlers have been locked out by the auction house for more than three months, and are striking against the Sotheby’s proposal to eliminate their retirement benefits completely and gut the union.

Indeed, at Sotheby’s the contrast between the 1 percent and the 99 couldn’t have been more stark. Rain-drenched protestors in plaid shirts and blue uniforms faced Sotheby’s glass doors, behind which men and women in corporate attire chatted amicably as though nothing were going on outside. At one point, Sotheby’s representative Diana Phillips was spotted in the lobby, and an art handler shouted out, “That’s the woman who’s responsible for this!” A billow of boos and whistles erupted from the crowds, but no acknowledgement was offered...

By the end of the night, the signs supporting the strikers were tattered by the rain. The words of warning given to occupiers on the way to Sotheby’s hung in the air. Stopping the crowd, a teamster member prepped the protesters. “This won’t be quite as rosey.” He was right.

Read the whole thing here.

Sotheby's: The international symbol of reckless greed



TWU demonstrates outside of Sotheby's in Australia.

Workers on a third continent are now protesting Sotheby' abuse of its Teamster art handlers as socialites affiliated with the auction house are villified and another Occupy march gears up.

Our TWU brothers and sisters just staged a rally outside of the Sotheby's auction house in Australia. Add that to the direct actions in London and New York -- along with the international press attention -- and you get one hell of a damaged international reputation for Sotheby's.

No wonder the art press calls Sotheby's lockout of 43 Teamsters "idiotic."

Columbia students are now circulating a petition (sign it here) calling on Sotheby's to end the lockout. The petition shames Columbia's president emeritus, Michael Sovern, who is chairman of Sotheby's board of directors.

The wives of Teamsters art handlers last night embarrassed Mayor Bloomberg's galpal, Diana Taylor, who sits on Sotheby's board. Five wives attended the annual neighborhood dinner of the New York Women's Foundation, where Taylor chairs the board of directors. They passed out handbills that read, "Diana 'Wall Street' Taylor: Killing Jobs, Hurting New York Families." Said Pat Walsh, wife of art handler John Walsh,

Sotheby's and Diana Taylor are part of the top 1 percent in this country. As chair of the Women's Foundation, Diana Taylor should support their mission of working for economic security and justice for women. So why, as a board member of Sotheby's Auction House, does she condone Sotheby's throwing hardworking New Yorkers out on the street without paychecks? Our families rely on these good jobs and benefits.

The corporate-owned media is doing its best to discredit the Occupy movement as a bunch of dirty hippies, but it's backfiring in large part because of Sotheby's. Bloomberg News, the mayor's company, reports that the Teamsters' own Dave Martinez symbolizes the 99 percent who are crushed as the 1 percent get richer:

Far from battling unions, Occupy Wall Street has their active support. David Martinez, a shop steward for Teamsters Local 814, has been shuttling between Zuccotti Park and Sotheby’s, the Upper East Side auction house that’s in a labor dispute with its art handlers.

...Martinez, the son of a fireman, will turn 50 in November. He graduated from Pomona College, an elite school in Southern California, got a master’s in religious studies from Yale, and started work on a PhD. He dreamed of being an artist while teaching religious studies; the closest he came was handling art for Sotheby’s, and now even that job is on the ropes.

We are unaware of anyone who has come to Sotheby's defense even as the Teamsters' art handlers continue gather support -- from workers around the world, from the news media, from the art world, from students, from Occupy Wall Street. Tonight, Occupy Museums -- an offshoot of Occupy Wall Street -- will march on Sotheby's in solidarity with the Teamsters.

Even Wall Street may be turning on Sotheby's. Yesterday, an investment analyst downgraded Sotheby's rating from "outperform" to "neutral."

"Idiotic" doesn't begin to describe it.

Why this Teamster Occupies Wall Street (video)

Tommy McCallister can speak for himself.

Sotheby's to get another Occupation

Sotheby's previous unwelcome visitors.

Art Info's In The Air blog reports that Sotheby's will have more unwelcome visitors tomorrow evening:

After an initial protest action that struck a controversial chord, Occupy Museums is barreling ahead with another occupation of MoMA and then a trip to Sotheby’s, where the group will support the picket line of Teamsters Local 814, the Sotheby’s art handler union who have been locked out of their jobs for the past three months after protests over planned cuts.

At 4 p.m., Occupy Museums will meet at MoMA along with members of Teamsters Local 814, then march (or take the bus) to Sotheby’s at 1334 York Avenue just in time for the house’s evening auction at 6 p.m., which the art handlers union will be picketing. On the group’s Facebook page, they write that Occupy Museums is meant to “claim space for dialog and transparency through the physical presence of our bodies. It is to hold space that was previously inaccessible.” As occupiers, the group will “bring the General Assembly to the doors of the museum, to engage in a dialog about the relationships between the arts and capitalism.”

You may be wondering what, exactly, is Occupy Museums. In The Air has the answer:

We are artists, art lovers, and art workers! We live and love art and are committed to its growth. However, we see many museums in their current manifestations as key elements of a larger system whose funding structure and relationship to the market, disempowers artists, and alienates art from the 99%. Value is manufactured by false scarcity, propped up by the cult of celebrity and the parlor game of speculation. This undermines the potential power of art to be a much greater force in our society. 

Entitled jerks get nasty surprise at Sotheby's bash



Teamsters and OWS at Sotheby's on Thursday.

Sotheby's socialites learned last night that they were justifiably concerned about the turmoil surrounding the auction house -- the protests, the international news coverage, the disruptions, the embarrassing youtube videos.

Brown Brothers Harriman, an investment firm representing the 1 percent, was holding a private "investment seminar and prints exhibition" at Sotheby's on Tuesday night. An email was sent to attendees assuring them that locked-out Teamsters from Local 814 wouldn't create any problems.

Surprise! Teamsters from Local 814 created problems. They made an unpleasant ruckus as BBH bankers entered the auction house and handed them flyers saying:

Brown Brothers Harriman

Banking on Misery

Brown Brothers is know for targeting clients in the top 1%, so it makes sense that tonight’s investment seminar is at Sotheby’s, where CEO Bill Ruprecht locked out Sotheby’s art handlers and refuses to negotiate a contract in good faith.

Sotheby’s longtime employees were thrown onto the streets without paychecks three months ago. They are now struggling to support their wives and children...

Brown Brothers Harriman and Sotheby’s are part of the top 1% that are willing to destroy families just to siphon a few more dollars their way. While Sotheby's starves the lockedout workers' families and entertains the 1% at investment seminars, Brown Brothers goes along for the ride.

Sotheby's was freaked out by the action. According to Local 814 organizer Julian Tysh:

We had a good turnout. We made lots of noise. We yelled at Brown Brothers bankers...they were not happy. Tommy McCallister was taking people's pictures as they were crossing our line.

And from shop steward Dave Martinez:

Yeah, we kicked their ass - we were totally belligerent - and those trust funders totally hated us. They are not gonna forget it.

Keep up the good fight, brothers!

This is exactly how Fox lies

Occupy Wall Street Rally at Sotheby's: MyFoxNY.com

Before you watch this, remember that Fox owner Rupert Murdoch is an ethically-challenged billionaire who's dead set on destroying the middle class. Murdoch tried to help out his good buddy Ohio Gov. John Kasich by donating $1 million to the Republican Governors Association last year.

Murdoch and his sons are being pressured to resign from their board after illegally hacking into the phones of celebrities, royalty and crime victims. But in this lies news report, Fox inartfully suggests it's picketing Teamsters and Occupy Wall Street who are the criminals.

Fox's first big lie is to call a picket line a march. No need to explain to our labor audience the difference between a legally protected picket line and -- well, a constitutionally protected march.

Another big lie: The lies news reader refers to Sotheby's and the Teamsters as "locked in a labor dispute." Um, no, the Teamsters were locked out of their jobs. Sotheby's could bring them back any time.

The Teamsters don't find many sympathetic New Yorkers? Fox is choosing to ignore the cacophony of honking horns that pass by the picket line, or the passers-by who shout support or the poll showing New Yorkers support Occupy Wall Street by a 3-to-1 margin.

The rich old bat who eats lunch three times a week at Sotheby's is lying when she says it's hard to get into the building. There are freaking barricades protecting the entrance; our Teamster brothers picket behind the barricades.

Fox lies by showing another rich old bat who complains she never asked the government for anything. Here Fox is trying to suggest the Teamsters or the OWSers want a handout from the government. Almost goes without saying that it's Wall Street that got the ginormous handout from the government.

Here's the biggest howler of all: "There is no real information about just who these rich people are and why specifically they deserve to be picketed." Sotheby's is a publicly traded company, so there's plenty of information about it. And if Fox doesn't understand why Sotheby's deserves to be picketed, we urge them to click here. 

And btw we just love Fox's handwringing over "illegal" marches. If only Fox were so concerned about Wall Street's illegal theft of billions from American workers.
Rupert Murdoch is hell bent on strangling the Occupy movement in its crib. His New York Post runs stories suggesting Zuccotti Liberty Park is filled with rich layabouts feasting on gourmet food. TeamsterNation visited the camp last week, and there is nothing luxe about it or its denizens. OWS is just students, retirees, veterans and unemployed people who want to stop what Rupert Murdoch and his billionare friends are doing to our country.

Art world to Sotheby's: 'Stop your idiotic lockout!'

In front of Sotheby's

New Yorkers are buzzing about Sotheby's lockout of Teamsters art handlers since they joined forces with Occupy Wall Street to mock and embarrass the 1% who have anything to do with the auction house.

Today, busloads of OWSers descended on the Sotheby's picket lines, Stars and Stripes flying, as they made a mighty racket chanting "Union Power, Teamster Power." Reporters and photographers eagerly recorded the drama as a dozen police officers -- and some very pissed-off Sotheby's employees -- looked on. Teamsters showed the OWSers how to walk the line and, after a few awkward moments, all were picketing by two giant rats and shouting each others' chants:

One, we are the people, two a little bit louder, three, we want justice for all workers one.

The workers united will never be defeated

Mic check

Tell me what democracy looks like? This is what democracy looks like

We want a fair CONTRACT

OWSers taught the Teamsters how to do a mic check, and Tommy McAllister thanked them all:

You guys are an inspiration to us. We've been out for a long time. We're not giving up until someone goes down, and I'm not going down.

Before breaking up the rally, Teamsters and OWSers hugged each other. Yup, Teamsters hug.

The energetic rally followed a series of disruptions by OWSers Merry Pranksters, a loose, anonymous band of mischief makers who put a new spin on traditional labor tactics. They put up a video of the commotion they created at two Danny Meyer restaurants on youtube. It's been picked up by the New York and Washington DC foodie blogs. The Merry Pranksters have disrupted auctions. And they infiltrated a lavish party at Sotheby's, creating a jaw-dropping videotape of a snooty 1 percenter making fun of the Billionaire's Walking Tour: "'We are poor, we are hungry, we are coming to your house.' Ha-ha."

She walked the line with us

The story of the lockout has gone global, with international news networks as well as the major New York publications sympathetically covering the plight of the art handlers. Photos of Susan Sarandon's visit to the picket line made the New York Post and People.

The art world is getting disgusted with Sotheby's intransigence. Artnet today published this screed:

Thanks to Occupy Wall Street, people everywhere are turning against the super-rich in a dramatic demonstration of public conscience. The last thing the art world needs, then, is headlines tying it to the oligarchic 1% (whose gut feeling for symbols of sophistication, i.e. artworks, fuels our vigorous art economy). So what the hell is up with Sotheby's idiotic lock-out of its art handlers union, now entering its third month?

OWS activists have already disrupted one Sotheby's auction with a protest against ostentatious wealth, and were reportedly planning to demonstrate at the auction house's York Avenue headquarters today, Oct. 19, 2011. Can someone wake up Sotheby's board chairman Michael I. Sovern and Sotheby's CEO William F. Ruprecht and tell them to settle the damn dispute? It's time to push the art world over towards the enlightened side.

Let's hope Sotheby's wakes up soon.

UPDATE: Teamsters, OWS picket Sotheby's

(UPDATES to correct Teamsters and OWS had 2 picket lines, sted "surround" Sotheby's.)

Teamsters and Occupy Wallstreeters have gotten off the buses and are marching in two picket lines in front of showroom! Rally Girl is in the middle of it:

There are two picket lines on each side of the showroom and passersby are shouting, "Don't give up man, don't give up."

Brother Tommy Mcallister is getting interviewed by the New York Daily News and there's plenty of cameras and press.  

It's loud with chants of "Tell me what democracy looks like, this is what democracy looks like."

The Teamsters art handlers have been locked out of Sotheby's for 11 weeks.

Come show your support! The rally is at 1334 York Ave. (between 71st & 72nd), NY, NY.

Teamsters, OWS rally at Sotheby's today

Classic.

Teamsters and Occupy Wall Streeters are on buses headed to today's rally outside Sotheby's Manhattan showroom. Rally Girl tweets:

On 2nd bus to #sothebys with #ows. #teamster brothers boarding. We are the 99%! #occupysothebys #1u

Bus is full with dozens talking about unions. Retired AFTRA member advising film students.

#ows ers on bus: Picketing 101. Practicing chants. 'Union power' 'we want a fair contract'

More excitement to come...

VIDEO: Sotheby's target of OWS

This video just arrived too. We can't believe the rich guy admitted he was uncomfortable being so rich.  

OWS's Merry Pranksters at it again. Sotheby's can't be happy.

It's a teensy bit hard to tell what's going on in this video, which shows Occupy Wall Street activists getting kicked out of Sotheby's. Again.

One thing is clear: the pissed-off expressions on the Sotheby's security people.

Here's the OWS explanation of what happened on the youtube page:

Wednesday, Oct 19th. New York -- Activists were physically removed from a Sotheby's art auction in NYC for holding a mock trial to declare the company guilty of crimes against the 99% for locking out their art handlers. Sotheby's made record profits in 2010 ($680 million) yet demanded take-backs from their art handlers (Teamsters Local 814) including the right to strip 401ks and hire "temporary" non-union workers to replace most of the art handling staff.

This is just the latest in a series of disruptions that seem to have Sotheby's seriously freaked out.

• Occupy Wall Street activists created disturbances at two Sotheby's auctions and at two restaurants owned by Danny Meyer, a Sotheby's board member.
• British unions held a loud rally outside of a Sotheby's auction in London, forcing billionaire patrons to use a back entrance.
• The British Parliament filed a motion to censure Sotheby's.
• Susan Sarandon showed up at a joint Teamsters-OWS picket line outside of the Manhattan showroom yesterday. 
• The best prank of all, ITNHO (in TeamsterNation's humble opinion), was infiltrating a Sotheby's party and videotaping a guest laughing at OWSers for being hungry and poor and marching on billionaires' homes.

Here's this from one of our OWSer friends:

Fort Sotheby's now has well over a dozen guards on the auction room floor, checks ID twice on the way in, and has implemented a brand-new rule that in order to enter the auction area, you must give a deposit of $2,500. This is not how Sotheby's wants to run their business, so we are having a serious effect.

It's nice to have friends on Wall Street.

Susan Sarandon, Teamsters, OWS OccupySotheby's

A long day on the picket line in front of Sotheby's reaped massive media attention for the plight of the locked-out Teamsters art handlers.

They got some help from actress Susan Sarandon. (We have an awesome photo but can only promise it later at this point.)

Reporters from international media to nationally syndicated radio programs to local newspapers such as the Daily News and the New York Post all came to OccupySothebys at 72nd and York. The burgeoning movement was to join forces with the Teamsters to protest what the 1 percent are doing to the 99 percent.

The message was clear: As art handler Julian Tysh said to radio host Thom Hartmann, "They're trying to turn good union jobs into crap Walmart jobs."

OWSers -- Wall Street Occupiers -- planned to join the Teamsters picket line at 1:30 p.m. New York City police arrived and put up more barricades. But logistical problems caused the OWsers to arrive two hours late. Spirits started to flag on the picket line with no word of their whereabouts.

Around 3:30 a dozen photographers appeared -- as did Susan Sarandon. Then the school bus finally arrived and the OWSers poured out of it. They picked up signs that said "Sotheby's is Bad for Art," and "Stop the War on Workers." Soon the sounds of "All Day, All Week, Occupy Wall Street," could be heard on Manhattan's Upper East Side.

Here's what Sarandon said:

I am a union member and I'm here to support other unions.

She donned a Teamster jacket and chatted graciously with art handlers as photographers snapped away.

Crain's New York Business ran a story just as the protest ended:

It's been a rough few weeks for the city's billionaires, bankers and corporate board members.

As the Occupy Wall Street movement has gained steam, the city's well-heeled have become the target of protests aimed at embarrassing them in their neighborhoods or places of business. Drawing on tactics honed by labor unions, the protesters have visited restaurants, theaters and luxury apartment buildings to deliver pointed messages to some of the city's most notable power brokers.

Protesters have infiltrated an eatery run by Danny Meyer, who sits on the board of Sotheby's, the art auction house that has locked out workers for almost three months.

OWSers, Teamsters Occupy Sotheby's

Outside Sotheby's on New York's Upper East Side, police are setting up barricades and traffic is stopped. Teamsters gathered this morning outside the auction house and are being joined by Occupy Wall Streeters.

Rally Girl tweets:

at #occupysothebys press here, rat has new signs taped on. 'What do we want?' 'contract' "when do we want it? 'now' #teamsters #ows #1u

#teamster julian tysh tells thom hartmann #sothebys wants to turn good union jobs into crap.

More to come....