A group of cleaners protesting Sotheby’s low sick pay rates have been suspended from their posts, following their public demonstration during the auction house’s London sales last week.  “[A service rep] stopped them at the entrance and said ‘give me your passes, you’re no longer welcome at Sotheby’s – we’ve been instructed by Sotheby’s to not allow you on site’” says Petros Elia, the cleaner’s union general secretary. “Our argument is that Sotheby’s is massively, extremely wealthy company. Contractual sick-pay is not a crazy thing.” (more…)

Last night’s Party in the Garden at MoMA was marked by vocal protests from museum staff, following museum proposals to reduce health care coverage during ongoing contract negotiations.  “A lot of us here are professionals,” says Luke Baker, an architecture and design curatorial assistant. “We’ve got master’s degrees. You know, we’re here for the long haul. We really want to make sure that working here, and giving as much as we give to the museum, that this is a tenable position for us and that we’re able to stay here.” (more…)