As students, staff, and faculty of Columbia, we are outraged by the attempts of Sotheby's auction house to destroy good middle class jobs at a time when New Yorkers need them most. After posting over $680 million dollars in gross profit last year, Sotheby's recklessly locked out their professional art handlers and is now demanding, among other things, that all new hires be low wage, non-union workers with no rights on the job, no heath care and no retirement. The auction house is also demanding major economic concessions as well.

We, the undersigned, call on Columbia Law Professor and Sotheby's Chairman Michael Sovern to end the lockout and stand up for good middle class jobs. New York can't afford to have more hard working families pushed into the unemployment lines, and Columbia University can't afford to be associated with such shameful and destructive behavior.

Mr. Sovern, WE DEMAND THAT YOU END THE LOCKOUT AND SETTLE THIS CONTRACT!
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Sincerely,