(Illustration: Tim Lane)

The U.S. Maritime Alliance, which negotiates union contracts on behalf of shipping container terminal operators on the East coast, warned of "serious consequences for the nation’s still-recovering economy" if labor and management can't reach a new master contract by December 29.

"A shutdown would wreak havoc on manufacturers, retailers, farmers and others who depend on the ports to move their supplies and products," USMX said in a statement posted to its website.

USMX and the International Longshoremen's Association agreed to a 90-day contract extension in September that averted a possible work stoppage.

Read more: Banksters vs. Gangsters? Contract Pits Pinstriped Pinheads Against Roughneck Roustabouts.

Earlier this week, each side accused the other of scuttling a second contract extension, after the two sides failed to agree on the future of a royalty program that rewards stevedores based on the quantity of containerized cargo that crosses the docks.

"USMX seems intent on gutting a provision of our Master Contract that ILA members fought and sacrificed for years to achieve," Mr. Daggett said in a statement. "We have repeatedly asked them to leave this item alone - it was a hard won gain by ILA members and a wage supplement achieved through hard fought negotiations."

Among the consequences of a work stoppage, the USMX highlighted the effects on the New York City area as follows:

At the Port of New York and New Jersey, which employs more ILA members than any of the 13 other East and Gulf Coast ports, the union’s 3,250 members would lose $7.5 million a week in wages alone.

A strike at the port, the largest on the East Coast, could also put at risk the nearly 171,000 jobs directly related to New York and New Jersey port operations.

In New York and New Jersey, for example, a shutdown would result in $100 million in lost revenue a month for railroads, truckers and other port-related transportation industries that handle the more than 250,000 containers that move through the port each month.

In 2002, a 10-day work stoppage on the West coast container terminals is said to have cost the U.S. economy $1 billion a day.

“Going once!” the bald man yelled. “GOING TWICE! OHHHHH IT’S GONEEEEE!!!”

On both sides of them long lines of demonstrators walked up and down York Avenue, wearing purple union shirts, blowing whistles and holding signs — some with placards that designated them as Sotheby’s employees. There were around 50 demonstrators in total, and judging by the sound they made as they marched, the whistling to non-whistling ratio was something like 49:1.

A bystander pointed out that they couldn’t have picked a worse time to strike, since it was August and Sotheby’s really has very little use for them this month. But this was not actually a strike, it was a lock-out. Sotheby’s, playing hardball in their renegotiation of the union contract, handed out letters on Friday telling the 43 Teamsters Local 814 workers not to come into work on Monday.

Around the corner, Local 814 President Jason Ide, ran down the litany of indignities his art handlers had suffered at the hands of the Sotheby’s higher-ups.

“They brought in Jackson Lewis LLC for the negotiations; last time they had Morgan Lewis, which I know doesn’t sound like a big difference but it is.” Scruffy-faced and in a neat suit, the 30-year-old Mr. Ide ticked off the union's issues on his fingers. “They’re trying to shorten the work week to 36 hours, which is an average of 2.5 hours per week, really harsh overtime cuts, they’re trying to replace us skilled workers with temporary guys, uh what else. Oh! This is really weird — I didn’t even know this was legal — they wanted us to waive our rights to report any legal violations on their part. As an individual you can’t file violations through the union, which is how we do things. Apparently they just want us not to be able to file them at all.”

For Mr. Ide the ignominy clearly hit close to home. He worked as an art handler at Sotheby’s for six years, and he said that he was a fully qualified preparator by the time he left.

“You can take that experience to a museum,” he said. “That’s why I like this job. But they’re trying to give it to temporary people, and deprive workers of this opportunity.”

A self-described “fighting Irish” handler of seven years,  Mark Keenan said the job had opened up whole new worlds for him.

“Jeff Koons,” Mr. Keenan said, when asked about his favorite artists. “Frank Stella, I’ve been in here until 2 o’clock in the morning installing some of his more intricate sculptures. I love it, I wouldn’t have it any other way.” He cocked his head in the direction of the building. “I shudder to think what’s happening in there now. It’s a complicated job. I’m still learning it, it takes time to learn.”

“We take care of Rembrandts, van Goghs and Picassos,” Mr. Ide yelled above the crowd during a speech just outside the entrance. “We’re highly trained. I’m convinced that if we stay out here and we fight and we let people know what’s happening here, we will prevail.”

After the crowd stopped shouting his first name, the workers resumed marching. Some returned to the incoming docks, where a red garbage truck was backing in.

“Whoa, whoa, whoa!” shouted a man in a bucket hat. “Can’t do that, bro! You can’t do that!”

“Scab!” yelled another, and threw a whistle in his mouth. He whistled hard, with his body, as if he was trying to point the sound into the building, where the driver was loading a Dumpster onto the back of the truck. The whistler’s two young sons, one in a cast, began tooting on their own noise-makers, eyebrows arched.

Blonde and sharp, Sandra Pope, currently running for Teamsters General president, approached the truck with Mr. Ide in a huff. She eyed the name of the company and began dialing the number below it. “It’s 813,” she said.

Mr. Ide shook his head. He was familiar with the shop, which is split between union and non-union workers.

“Oh really,” Ms. Pope said, ending the call.

“Looks like they sent a non-union worker today,” Mr. Ide told us, walking away from the truck with the workers to rejoin the march out front.

The Observer left without saying goodbye to Mr. Ide. He was otherwise engaged, busy chatting with four cops who were curious about how late the whistles would be going. Late, we heard him explain as we hailed a cab. Very late.

Photos by Andrew Russeth

Sotheby's and its art handlers' union have yet to close a deal, nearly a month after their previous agreement expired.

Nearly a month after the contract between Sotheby's and its art handlers' union, Teamsters Local 814, expired, the two sides have yet to reach a deal on a new agreement. Union leaders have floated the possibility of a strike, but are holding back on acting on that threat for now.

The Teamsters union has demanded that the auction house not ask for any cuts in headcount or salary, since it has realized record sales in recent years, according to a report in today's Independent. Last year, auction sales at the publicly traded house totaled an all-time high of $4.3 billion, a $2.1 billion increase over its 2009 performance.

The Wall Street Journal noted earlier this month that Sotheby's privately held rival, Christie's, reached a four-year agreement with the union in May that increased union handlers from 46 to 49, with two more scheduled to be hired by March 2012, and the group may hoping to strike a similarly favorable deal here.

"We're dealing with a company that's wildly profitable and not in any trouble,” Jason Ide, the president of Local 814, told Crain's. “It looks to me like they're trying to take advantage of the climate,” referring to setbacks that labor groups have suffered in recent months.

Sotheby's has said it will continue to negotiate with the workers, issuing a statement that reads, in part: "Sotheby's has a long history of a constructive and cooperative relationship with the unions that represent our employees, and has reached fair and equitable contracts in the past."

Womens' Wear Daily reported today that the management of the 59th Street flagship reached a deal with leaders of the Local 3 branch of the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union that "eliminates any possibility of a strike being called against the retailer."

Bloomingdale's and RWDSU have been trapped in negotiations over a new contract for the 2,000-plus workers at the Midtown branch since the previous one expired on March 1. Last week, the union authorized an employee strike if an agreement was not reached by the May 1 extended deadline.

Though the main sticking point of the talks, health care coverage, has not yet been resolved according to the RWDSU spokesman, the rest of the four-year contract has been decided and the union has allowed two more weeks to hammer out the health plan.

That was a close one. Bloomies' last brush with organized labor activism was an employee walkout 43 years ago.

When the two sides met last night it had been the first meeting since talks broke down on Nov. 18, and both sides appeared hopeful a resolution was coming.

At 8:30 p.m., union spokesman Bruce Cohen emerged and told reporters it would be a long night.

Hershel Waxman of the Nederlander Group was more positive.

"I think we're going to be able to make a deal," he told NY1.

"Prompted by their overseas WGA colleagues, Italy's screenwriters are rattling sabers and threatening strike action over new media residuals," the magazine reports. "TV scribe Andrea Purgatori, who is the screenwriters' rep within Italian artistic copyright association SIAE is sounding a call to action, lamenting a lack of royalties pertaining to Italian film and TV drama product sold for web and mobile phone use."

Insert your own, aren't-Italians-on-permanent-work-stoppage-anyway? joke here.