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:: Thursday, September 09, 2004 ::

Get a rat to tell your tale Cleveland Plain Dealer, OH
'No question about it, it draws people's attention, as opposed to picket signs or leaflets that are perhaps not as visible,' said John Kilbane, business manager of Local 310 of the Laborers' International Union, which was the first unit to deploy the rat in Cleveland. 'It's helpful getting your message out.'

While 'scab' is probably the best-known word for strikebreakers, the rat has been a symbol of anti-labor activity, especially among employers, for more than a century. It really began to catch on as a sort of mascot after a Chicago union commissioned a giant inflatable rodent for a job action in the early '90s.

'It has become accepted, at least within the United States and Canada, as a symbol of protest of poor working conditions, substandard wages, employment at will,' Kilbane said. 'The rat has always been associated with uncleanliness, if you will, or base conditions or poverty, which made it the animal of choice among unions to express their displeasure at nonunion activity. We do it to protect exploited workers.

'It wins attention much quicker than a more pleasing-looking animal, I tell you - we don't have the Easter bunny out there. I think the rat has assumed a character of its own.'

posted 6:34 AM :: reference link :: 0 comments ::

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