Chicago Tribune |
Oct 28, 2020 at 10:50 AM
Threatened with extermination by the National Labor Relations Board, the fate of Scabby, the Chicago-born giant inflatable protest rat, may be decided in the court of public opinion.
The agency issued an order Tuesday inviting public comment in a case to determine if the use of Scabby to protest the hiring of nonunion labor was a violation of the National Labor Relations Act.
A ruling in the 2-year-old case between an Elkhart, Indiana, recreational vehicle parts manufacturer and a suburban Chicago unit of an operating engineers union could well decide if the feds whack Scabby.
For 30 years, Scabby has loomed large over construction sites, drawing attention to labor disputes with its menacing demeanor. But under the Trump administration, the NLRB’s general counsel has argued that Scabby is a form of unlawful coercion meant to scare away customers.
Among a number of recent Scabby cases before the board is a July 2019 complaint by Level Construction against the Painters District Council 14 and the Chicago Regional Council of Carpenters Local 1 over giant rats used to protest construction of an Urbanspace food hall in downtown Chicago.
Those cases likely will be decided by the outcome of a 2018 complaint filed by Elkhart RV parts manufacturer Lippert Components against the International Union of Operating Engineers Local 150, which is based in west suburban Countryside.
The complaint alleges the union posted a 12-foot inflatable rat and two banners near the public entrance of a 2018 RV trade show in Elkhart to deter attendees. In July 2019, an administrative judge ruled the union did not violate the National Labor Relations Act, but the board’s general counsel is challenging that decision.
“Nobody was able to drive by or enter the Thor RV Show without encountering the large hostile rat, oversize stationary banners, and the Local 150 agents, each of which indicated to Thor employees and show visitors alike that they were entering the territory of some sort of labor dispute,” Tiffany Limbach, an attorney for the NLRB, wrote in a September 2019 brief. “The rat and banners created a symbolic and confrontational barrier to anyone seeking to enter or exit the Thor RV Show.”
A Lippert spokesperson did not respond to requests for comment.
Operating Engineers Local 150, which has a long history with Scabby, has until Nov. 27 to file a 25-page brief, according to the NLRB’s order. People not directly involved in the case can file comments by Dec. 28 at the agency’s website.
“There’s no way to change the labor laws that’s not an impediment on our First Amendment rights,” Ed Maher, spokesman for Local 150, said Tuesday. “Any change to this law would be a limitation of free speech.”
A car-top rat is seen Dec. 31, 1988, at a rally at Lone Star Cement in Oglesby, Illinois. The International Union of Operating Engineers Local 150 claims it came up with the name Scabby in a 1989 contest.
Scabby the Rat was created in Chicago circa 1990 and has found its way across the country and into the broader culture, making a memorable cameo on a “Sopranos” TV episode centered around a construction work stoppage.
Its roots run so deep in Chicago that two local unions claim ownership of Scabby’s origin story.
From its commercial inception, the official Scabby has been made by Big Sky Balloons in southwest suburban Plainfield, run by husband-and-wife owners Mike and Peggy O’Connor. Rats range in size from 6 feet to 25 feet, and in price from about $2,600 to $9,300 each.
The company has been selling two to three rats per month, with no slowdown during the pandemic, Peggy O’Connor said Tuesday. She is not concerned the NLRB will rule against Scabby.
“We have not stopped production, nor will we,” she said. “It’s a First Amendment (right) that you could practice your freedom of speech and freedom to advertise and freedom to try to make money.”
Big Sky said Scabby was commissioned in 1990 by the District Council 1 of the International Union of Bricklayers in Elmhurst.
But Operating Engineers Local 150 claims it came up with the name Scabby in a 1989 contest for an early version of the protest balloon rat it created for picket lines, Maher said.
Regardless of which union came up with the idea, Maher said Operating Engineers Local 150 intends to fight for Scabby.
“Scabby has been up against various foes since we invented him. We’ve gone to federal court, he’s been through state court, he’s been in three federal circuits,” Maher said. “If the NLRB is determined to limit his use, which they certainly appear to be, we’ll take up the fight for Scabby wherever we have to.”
rchannick@chicagotribune.com
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