The locked-out art handlers at Sotheby's have taken their protests beyond U.S. borders this week, with Teamsters flying to London to stage protests and meet with unions and Parliamentarians — just in time for tomorrow's contemporary art evening sale at Sotheby's.This morning, a member of Britain's Labour Party put forward a motion condemning the auction house for the lockout, and "lots of MPs are signing it," Teamsters Local 814 president Jason Ide, a former Sotheby's art handler himself, told ARTINFO.

Tomorrow, several New York Teamsters and their British supporters also plan to protest outside the auctioneer's Bond Street location. A number of London unions, including the International Transport Workers' Federation, Unite, and maritime union RMT, will participate. Ide is joined in London by Dorian Malloy, a locked-out art handler who has worked for Sotheby's for seven years. The union paid to send them both to England to raise awareness for the art handlers' cause, Ide said. Their timing is canny: it is a busy week for London's art world, with Frieze Art Fair bringing swarms of collectors, gallerists, and artists to the city.

"There are a lot of high-end pieces for auction, like a Lucian Freud, so we're going to be there," Ide said. "We're going to be hand-billing, and we're going to have banners and signs and make sure everyone who goes into this thing is 100 percent clear on Sotheby's labor practices."

Asked for comment on the parliamentary motion, which currently bears the signature of 14 MPs including Jim Sheridan and Andrew Miller, Sotheby's spokesperson Diana Phillips sent ARTINFO a statement reiterating the house's position. "Sotheby's made this difficult decision because of the union's repeated threats of a strike," she said. "We had to take the necessary precautions to ensure the continuity of our business when our autumn season began."

The motion "condemns the contrast between the elite culture of Sotheby's and the poverty imposed on hard-working employees" and "calls on Sotheby's to abandon its strategy of breaking unions in order to drive down the terms and conditions of low-waged workers who are trying to support their families."  

This isn't the first time Sotheby's Teamsters — who have been locked out of their jobs since August after their contract expired in July — have executed creative protest schemes. Over the past few months, the art handlers have rallied at a Hamptons squash tournament and distributed pamphlets and letters outside the office buildings of collectors Steve Cohen and Aby Rosen. Last week, they staged a protest outside 820 Fifth Avenue, home to Sotheby's board member Michael David-Weill, art dealer William Acquavella, and collector Lily Safra (who waved and sent sandwiches to the protesters, according to the Observer). Sotheby's recently hired Crozier Fine Arts to temporarily replace the debarred workers, according to Hyperallergic.

The protest in London also follows an incident last month in which members of the protest group Occupy Wall Street infiltrated the New York branch of Sotheby's during its contemporary sale, standing up one byone to condemn the corporation. (Ide noted that the union was not working directly with Occupy Wall Street, and is "not in dialogue" with them.) Sotheby's New York is now reportedly checking the IDs of all those who enter the building to prevent any similar disruptions going forward. 

Sotheby's maintains that its offer is fair and that the publicly-owned company will continue to work toward a satisfactory agreement. "We are very disappointed that we have been unable to reach an agreement that is fair to both sides, despite our best efforts," she said. "Our most recent offer included wage increases every year of the contract, cost of living increases, 100 percent employer paid health insurance premiums, and continued participation in the company's 401k retirement fund like every other Sotheby's employee." Phillips added, "We will continue to bargain in good faith — at the negotiating table and not on the street — in the hopes that a new agreement can be reached as soon as possible."

The Sotheby's spokesperson did not explicitly confirm that the house would take similar ID-checking measures at tomorrow's sale, but said the company "will be taking all necessary precautions in our London salesrooms to ensure that our actions proceed properly."

That might be a challenge. "These workers won't be among the ultrarich queuing to part with, or be seen parting with, a fortune for a gold effigy of Kate Moss, but they will be very much present at the event," said ITF general secretary David Crockroft in a statement supporting tomorrow's demonstration. "And at the next one, and the one after that, until common justice prevails."