NEW YORK — Union workers and Occupy Wall Street activists gave a rough welcome to well-heeled Sotheby’s clients as they arrived in limousines to attend an auction of contemporary art in New York.
More than 100 protestors screamed abuse and blew ear-splitting whistles as men in suits and streams of thin women in expensive jewels and high-heels entered the glass-faced Sotheby’s building in Manhattan.
“Shame on you!” they chanted. And: “You don’t deserve it!”
The demonstration was organized by unionized art handlers at Sotheby’s, who say they’ve been locked out of the company during contract negotiations. Their numbers were bolstered by members of the Occupy Wall Street protest, which is centered on a camp in a park in the Financial District.