LUXURY auctioneer Sotheby’s banned four of its cleaners yesterday after workers protested outside its London headquarters demanding a living wage and sick pay.

After demonstrating outside the broker’s most profitable auction of contemporary art in Europe on Wednesday, workers were told to go home when they arrived for work the next morning.

According to Sotheby’s contracted facilities management agency Servest, the auctioneer did not want certain members of staff to return to the site after the protest.

One of the banned cleaners told the Star: “We did nothing wrong.

“We went to ask for sick pay, then we went to work as normal and we were told that Sotheby’s didn’t want us to work there anymore.”

The woman, who asked to remain anonymous in the hope of being reinstated, added: “It is unbelievable. All I am doing is asking for sick pay and the company is treating me like a criminal.

“I am now more determined than ever to continue our campaign. We will not stop until we win our jobs back and we win sick pay.”

Sotheby’s cleaners and porters have fought their employer for almost a year and won a claim for the London living wage in February.

The £9.15 an hour rate was implemented in April, but the company now refuses to make backdated payments.

Contracted staff at Sotheby’s are only entitled to statutory sick pay, which the workers’ union argued was not enough to cover real costs.

United Voices of the World (UVW) general secretary Petros Elia, whose organisation represents the workers, said the protest was a “peaceful” attempt to “raise awareness.”

“Sotheby’s is clearly trying to set an example here,” he added. “It has already done a pretty good job at intimidating many of the cleaners and porters. Not all were at the protest.”

In previous communications, Servest had told UVW that any protest would be considered misconduct by the staff.

A Sotheby’s spokesman told the Star there had been “an attempt to assault” people attending an auction, which raised £130.4 million.

He added: “They were essentially spraying water from pistols and attempting to obstruct clients from entering the building. We have the right obviously to restrict entry to cleaners who are not behaving appropriately.”

Sotheby’s said the cleaners had been suspended on full pay but did not specify whether an investigation or disciplinary process would take place.