Park West Contracted Auctioneers Speak Out

Article # 2
Park West Galle(r)y Slaves? Indentured Service at the Art Auctions Afloat
or
How to get two and a half months' or more work out of someone for no pay before replacing them with the next sucker

Battling With No Sales

All through 2008, the majority of the Park West auctioneers were shocked as auction after auction confirmed the record slump in sales. E-mails between the auctioneers on the different ships echoed the same dismal news. Sales had just bottomed out. Park West Gallery, not thinking that this was a symptom of a crashed economy or realizing that it was an epidemic spanning all ships and all personnel, attributed the slump to poor skills on the part of the auctioneers.

At the annual auctioneers' conference in September 2008, the auctioneers were told that they had to get back to basics, back to volume sales, reworking the signature Park West "mystery piece" program to ensure a basic level of sales. What Park West failed to realize was that the economy had by now wholly and directly affected their business. People simply were not buying the art, no matter what methods were employed or how skillful the auctioneers.

After the conference, when they returned to their assigned ships, many auctioneers attempted to get back to the basic auction sales gimmick of having the "mystery program" fill in the volume sales. Park West advised all auctioneers to adhere to the relaunch of the old "mystery program". The auctioneers quickly found out that this had little or no affect on sales. With the economy the way it was, people were simply not buying.

Exit the Auctioneers, Enter the Rumors of Pay Guarantees

As described in Article # 1, with the auctioneers not only working for no pay but also getting into debt to Park West, many abandoned ship, some permanently, some for vacations. Park West suddenly realized that they were facing a real staffing issue. As a means of curtailing the mass departure and vacancies on the ships, rumors began to circulate around November 2008 of the introduction of a new thing for Park West, a guarantee of a basic salary for its auctioneers and a salary for its associates. Personnel were asked to be patient while the program was worked out. Park West reportedly laid off a number of its laborers on hourly pay in the Miami Lakes facility in order to provide capital for the guarantee.

Over the following months, auctioneers were promised a guarantee by their fleet managers and were asked to stay on, on the understanding that the guarantee would be made retroactive back to October. Many took the word of their fleet managers and stayed. One has to keep in mind that every single day that an auctioneer is on a ship, he or she is responsible for the associated costs. Many decided to stay on the assumption that the associated costs would be covered. The rumors and promises from the fleet managers talked about a guarantee of $500 up to $900 per week.

Various associate auctioneers who attended a secondary training session in Southfield and Miami in November 2008 reported that they were offered a base salary guarantee at the beginning of and throughout the training. They also reported that many who had been considering leaving, when they were given an assurance of a base pay, decided to stay. These associates had witnessed the lead auctioneers losing money every week. Why would they choose to accept a lead role otherwise? It was reported that the reason many of them decided to accept the position of auctioneer was the promises made of a guaranteed base salary. These associates were being groomed to take the lead role immediately after training. Some, trusting what was offered to them, accepted lead roles. Others preferred to remain in the safety of an associate role with its guaranteed salary.

In early January of this year, the "guarantee" was finally implemented. Some auctioneers immediately noticed that it was not a guarantee at all, but rather that it simply assisted the auctioneer by absorbing some of their costs. This was in stark contrast to what was promised and offered. Some of the auctioneers who noticed this resigned immediately. Many did not take note as they were or are too busy to read the fine print of the guarantee.

The guarantee is not what was presented to many auctioneers. It seems to have gone through many changes from when it was first discussed to when it was actually rolled out. It really works as an amount to be credited towards expenses incurred by the auctioneer. It does not guarantee the auctioneer a weekly paycheck at all.

Indentured servitude

Back in the old days of the feudal system, the people who worked the land were not slaves, but they were so dependent on their lord and master for their living, and economically unable to free themselves from their servitude, that they might as well have been.

The solution that Park West has come up with for staffing the ships with auctioneers is simple: keep a large pool of trainees and promote as many to the associate position as possible. This is fair to the associates as they will receive a base salary of $500 per week, but they still are given the carrot of big bucks ahead when they become auctioneers. The hook is also simple. The withholding pay period for a newly appointed auctioneer is about two and half months. If an associate is appointed to the lead role (auctioneer), it will take him/her two and half months to get the first statement for the first month worked. When they receive their statement, (which arrives almost at the same time as their pay, if any) most will be surprised to learn that they have made little or no money or, even worse, are now in debt to Park West. Numerous cases have been reported of auctioneers being paid $100-400 per week. Cases have been reported of auctioneers earning no money at all but just breaking even when their expenses are deducted from their commissions. Many cases, though, have been reported of auctioneers owing Park West money according to their statement.

By the time auctioneers realize that they have been or are working for free or almost free, or worse, that they are paying Park West for the privilege of making money for the company, it is too late. They have already given two and half months of their lives to Park West. Unless an auctioneer has an accounting or math background, it would almost be impossible for them to calculate their future earning and predict what that statement will say, when it arrives on the 15th of the month.

If the auctioneer decides to leave, Park West will then immediately replace the loss with a newly appointed auctioneer, moved up from the associate position and from a different ship. The associate has been making the $500 per week and assumes that he/she can keep the momentum going. More than likely, they will not notice that they are getting into debt or working for free for the next two and half months. This cycle provides Park West with an almost unlimited pool of "free" labor to operate their programs. This "guarantee program" is really only a guarantee that Park West will keep the ships staffed and enable them to ride out the bad economy on the ships, or so they believe. Looking at this program as a formula, it would only take five auctioneers to run a ship for a calendar year at almost no cost to Park West. Multiply this by some 65 ships and one can assume that Park West would only have to identify and recruit 325 people per year to operate all the ships for them as lead auctioneers, costing them next to nothing.

Recruiting the Unwary

Park West continues to run a very aggressive recruiting program, mostly pulling potential candidates from the cruise lines themselves but also on the Internet and through other channels. Almost all of their auctioneers come from countries other than the U.S. Once they are plugged into the PW program it may be hard for them to get out. They are on a ship and insulated from the rest of the world. Many associate and lead auctioneers have reported that they simply do not have the money to walk off the ship. Many have visa and immigration issues that they do not know how to manage and these issues hamper them from taking the initiative to leave. Many have been gone for so long that they do not have a foundation set up to go home too. In some circumstances, some auctioneers have left their employment with the cruise lines for what they thought was a better job with Park West. In some circumstances, they have been working for so long as an associate and prior to the $500 salary that they have depleted their savings they had prior to signing on. Prior to the $500 salary, it would not be uncommon for an associate to have to have money saved up in order to survive until they became eligible for promotion to auctioneers. Many current auctioneers have been recently appointed to the lead role from many months as an associate and are trying to earn back their depleted savings.

Many of the Park West auctioneers and associates do not even know that this is happening to them until it is too late. When they do realize it they could be stuck on the ships for a number of reasons. By the time an auctioneer realizes the issue at hand of working for free, it may be too late to pull out. The months can pile up quickly. Adding up the time spent as an associate and as an auctioneer, these victims could find themselves out and very far away from home for anywhere from six to twelve months, flat broke or in debt, with no resources available to get home, and no home to go to. In some cases it may be hard for them to leave, as they are being fed and housed for free.

It seems that the functioning shelf life for a Park West auctioneer is about two to three months. These people are all considered disposable by Park West Gallery. As with their customers, they can always find more canon fodder to fill the roles of associates and auctioneers for long enough to keep the money coming in for the Park West principals at the cost of broken promises and broken lives.

How do you stop the cycle from happening to you? Get thoroughly wised up before you step on the gangway. Once you're aboard it can be very difficult to make your way back to shore safely.

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