"Scabby The Rat" Makes Front Page News

(Metropolitan Washington Council, AFL-CIO)

"A labor union in Washington will on occasion be upset with somebody," wrote reporter Monica Hesse in a front-page story in the Washington Post on Saturday. "Contract negotiations go awry. Nonunion workers get hired. At these moments, you need a symbol. You need something that is going to attract the attention of passersby, something that your members can rally around during their protest, something that is so hideous that the company whose building it sits in front of will do just about anything to get you to move it. You need access to a rat." The report notes that "the inflatable rat has achieved a level of ubiquity, becoming one of the most recognizable protest strategies" and quotes several local unions - including Teamsters 639, OPEIU 2, UNITE HERE 25 and UFCW 1994/MCGEO - who have used it effectively. The Metro Council's rat - inherited from a local that's no longer using it - has been deployed a number of times this year already, and Streetheat Coordinator Chris Garlock - dubbed "chief rat wrangler" by the Post - is responsible for working with locals who want to use it. "It's got a bit of a big footprint," Garlock told the Post. ""Once you unleash the rat, there's no telling what could happen." Click here to read the whole Post report and see a gallery of photos of Scabby the rat. - photo by Juana Arias/The Washington Post