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.