Hoffa Asks Cuomo to Remove Diana Taylor from Public Board

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International Brotherhood of Teamsters

Dec 06, 2011, 04:32 ET

Sotheby's Director Insulted Sotheby's Employees in Public Forum

WASHINGTON, Dec. 6, 2011 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Teamster General President Jim Hoffa sent a letter today to New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo asking him to remove Diana Taylor from the board of Hudson River Park Trust.

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Taylor said Thursday she would resign from Sotheby's board if the company responded to its workers' pleas for their jobs at their current wages. Forty-three art handlers, members of Teamsters Local 814, were thrown out of work on Aug. 1 because they refused Sotheby's demands to accept wage and benefit cuts and the dissolution of the union.

During a meeting of the Hudson River Park Trust, Taylor made the following statement to art handlers David Martinez and Julian Tysh: "I have one thing to say to you. I have had one conversation with [Sotheby's CEO] Bill Ruprecht about this, and I told him that if he accedes to any of your demands, I will resign from the board."

The video of her remarks can be seen here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8iNw-lgA9DQ

"Ms. Taylor thinks it's an unreasonable 'demand' for middle-class workers to want a job, a union and a stable standard of living," Hoffa said. "She may represent the views of 1 percent of New York's wealthiest, but she doesn't represent the 99 percent whose interests she is entrusted to represent as chair of the Hudson River Park Trust."

"Someone who is so hostile to the well-being of New York's working families shouldn't be overseeing a public project intended to improve their lives," Hoffa said. "Ms. Taylor's expertise may be helpful in developing this park, but she spoke in public with such contempt for working people who have only stood up for their rights that I think it is no longer appropriate for her to continue in that role.

"That she embarrassed Sotheby's is between her and Sotheby's. But she publicly attacked the working people she is supposed to be helping. The State of New York owes it to the vast majority of its people to remove her from the Hudson River Park Trust."

The letter can be read here.

Founded in 1903, the International Brotherhood of Teamsters represents more than 1.4 million hardworking men and women in the United States, Canada and Puerto Rico, including 100,000 in New York. Visit www.teamster.org for more information. Follow us on Twitter: @teamsterpower

SOURCE International Brotherhood of Teamsters