That Giant Rat Balloon Is Protected by the Constitution

[Omaha Steve]

Source: Bloomberg

By Josh Eidelson

The towering rat balloon—six to 25 feet tall, often dubbed “Scabby the Rat”—is a common and sometimes contentious sight. It’s a gimmick used most frequently by unions to protest employers, but the inflated rats have occasionally been used by unions to protest other unions and, in an ironic gesture, by a business group protesting a hearing at the National Labor Relations Board. The rat has seemed a bit worn-out: Last year the AFL-CIO’s Building and Construction Trades Department announced it was officially retiring the balloon rat because it “symbolizes intimidation tactics of 30 years ago.”

Individual unions have kept deploying rogue rats, anyway. As a way to pressure companies and get attention from customers, a giant rodent offers obvious advantages. The symbol is memorable, immediately recognizable, and much cheaper and easier (if less effective) than the hard work of mobilizing a critical mass of human protesters. A federal judge’s decision this week illustrates a further reason that unions resort to the rat: It’s less likely than a picket line to get shut down.

The ruling, by Judge Joseph Bianco of the Eastern District of New York, rejected a request from an asbestos contractor to make local laborers union stop using the rat in a dispute over a supervisor. The inflatable rodent isn’t prohibited by a clause in the company’s contract with the union banning “disruptive activity,” a category that includes strikes, boycotts, and pickets, because the prop isn’t similar to any of those tactics, the judge reasoned. “To hold otherwise would be to prohibit the union from engaging in any speech that is harmful to plaintiff’s business image.”

FULL story at link.



Photograph by Bob Krist/Corbis

Read more: http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2014-10-29/giant-rat-balloon-at-union-protests-is-protected-by-the-constitution

[Iamthetruth]

1. Except it appears to be on public property

Blocking a public sidewalk.

[Feral Child]

2. Republicans also look

for any trivial condition they can complain about to stifle dissent.

I think pedestrians can pass behind Scabby. The dude in front of the creature is a picketer, one can see by the union jacket. He's choosing to walk in the street.

Besides, this is a local circumstance and doesn't apply to all Rat displays.

[Iamthetruth]

7. Sure you could wak by it

Last edited Thu Oct 30, 2014, 02:45 PM - Edit history (1)

With a box cutter.

[Omaha Steve]

9. Such hostility towards someone exercising a constitutional right

Are you just anti-union in general?

[Feral Child]

10. Give that a try, will you?

It'll save DU the trouble of a PPR.

[Feral Child]

12. You don't belong here.

Progressives support unions. You sound like a scab, or, more probably, a straw-boss.

You've "had" it done have you? Hired goons because you're short on testicularity.

Try it yourself. See what happens when you don't have paid goons shielding you.

[Marrah_G]

15. you have "had it done" and "it did not end well for them"

Are you sure you are on the right site?

[Feral Child]

17. I just received a PM from "iamthetruth" in reference to this topic. The exchange is made public

below:


From "iamthetruth": There are good unions and bad unions.

> Construction types gouge everyone, including the end user. I never said I was a progressive, I'm a democrat.

My response:

I live in a house built by non-union labor in the South. The workmanship is lousy, the materials very low-grade, including scrap material used in the areas that can't be seen. I've had to replace every bit of the plumbing and electrical components. The A/C unit was a cobbled together heat exchanger.

Time and labor costs for rebuilding this house myself equals many thousands of dollars expended just to render it safe to live in.

THAT'S what you can expect since Reagan's bullshit "Right to Work". Union construction means quality work by apprenticeship-trained journey-men using quality materials and tools.. Only cheapskate, profit-driven Republican con-artists consider that "gouging". You want to keep *your* costs down at the risk of sub-standard buildings that are unsafe to live or work in.

There are no *bad* unions. There are sometimes corrupt union officials, corrupted by Management that will take any avenue, no matter how illegal or immoral, to destroy the ability of the worker to bargain collectively. The unions themselves protect the working men and women, as well as the consumer who purchased the fruits of Labor.

I'm going to publish this exchange in the thread where you've exposed yourself, and I'll thank you not to try to bullshit me by PM anymore. Try to justify your sabotage of Union efforts to force Management to bargain in the open, publicly.

I'm a Union legacy democrat, and and it's my personal belief that you're a Republican and a troll, and I consider a troll on a progressive site to be equivalent to a scab on the worksite.

[Omaha Steve]

18. Great job

Thanks.

OS

[Feral Child]

19. Appreciate your response, Omaha Steve.

I have great respect for your posts and click on them automatically when I see your screen name.

[chervilant]

20. Just FYI:

On Sat Nov 1, 2014, 01:14 PM an alert was sent on the following post:

I just received a PM from "iamthetruth" in reference to this topic. The exchange is made public
http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1014&pid=933998

REASON FOR ALERT

This post is disruptive, hurtful, rude, insensitive, over-the-top, or otherwise inappropriate.

ALERTER'S COMMENTS

A private message was cut and pasted for public viewing.

You served on a randomly-selected Jury of DU members which reviewed this post. The review was completed at Sat Nov 1, 2014, 01:22 PM, and the Jury voted 1-6 to LEAVE IT.

Juror #1 voted to LEAVE IT ALONE
Explanation: No explanation given
Juror #2 voted to LEAVE IT ALONE
Explanation: If you send someone a message they have the right to publish it
Juror #3 voted to LEAVE IT ALONE
Explanation: No explanation given
Juror #4 voted to LEAVE IT ALONE
Explanation: No explanation given
Juror #5 voted to HIDE IT
Explanation: No explanation given
Juror #6 voted to LEAVE IT ALONE
Explanation: I guess the person exposed is a wee bit miffed...
Juror #7 voted to LEAVE IT ALONE
Explanation: No explanation given

Thank you very much for participating in our Jury system, and we hope you will be able to participate again in the future.

(I grew up in a family of journeymen, and I can assure you, things were a LOT better for workers when unions thrived.)

[Feral Child]

21. Thanks for the heads up.

"iamthetruth" has sent me 2 more PMs, both so incoherent that they need not be shared. I suspect he hit happy hour at the country club. I've saved them to fwd to Admin in case he sends any more, despite my second request that he not contact me by PM.

Not only the workers, things were better for the country and the economy when unions thrived; certainly for the consumer that received quality with their purchases.

[jtuck004]

4. I wonder if the contractor supervisor screwed them over in public too? They wouldn't

have to be out there if they didn't have a grievance.

Perhaps she or he could come out on that public sidewalk, buy them all lunch, and see if he could get it cleared up.

They they could go out in public, talk about what a fine boss they have, maybe encourage someone to hire them on a new contract, and everyone would do better all around.

Or, I guess we could piss and moan that people have to step 6" to the right so someone else can use the what rights we have left to try and get a fair shake.


choices...

[mac56]

6. "Or, I guess we could piss and moan that people have to step 6" to the right.."

THIS.

Right on.

[Luminous Animal]

8. Plenty of room for pedestrians and the rat.

[Xithras]

24. Your rights are only absolute in two places...your property, and public property.

If it's speech, then a public sidewalk is a perfectly legitimate place to exercise and spread it. As long as they aren't preventing the rest of the public from using it.

[Demeter]

3. And so it goes: we can have our Bill of Rights in the loopholes

There's something so terribly wrong about that.

[BumRushDaShow]

5. I have seen different sizes of them deployed here in Philly

from the size in the OP photo, to the size that can be loaded on the back of a pickup and driven around. The Carpenter's Union here has been using them the most to
protest the PA Convention Center.

[LiberalElite]

13. and here I thought it was a NYC thing nt

I like the rats - very eye catching. Gets passerbys attention.

[KamaAina]

14. As did I.

I've never seen one anywhere else. In NYC, they're all over town.

[Cal Carpenter]

22. Saw one in Michigan at a protest against Right to Work legislation a couple years ago

There was a big gathering in Lansing on the day our esteemed governor asshole was signing the bill. Many unions were represented - hundreds of people. And there was a giant inflatable rat.

Oh, and the Koch brothers astroturf group's tent came down on their heads. LOL. Not sure how that happened...

[True Blue Door]

16. Pickets and boycotts are protected by the Constitution too.

No matter what any contract, judge, or cop says.

[branford]

23. The inflatable rats are definitely protected under the Constitution,

so long as they're not placed on private property without permission or otherwise impermissibly block a thoroughfare or create a dangerous condition, such as a safety risk in high winds.

In fact, the rats are ubiquitous here in NYC. So much so, that I think that they've really lost their impact, and possibly even pro-union association. Most native New Yorker's barely notice them in their travels and I've often seen children and tourists pose to take picture with the rats just for fun without ever realizing or caring about the message. I think I agree with the AFL-CIO, it might be time to retire the inflatable rodent.