This Friday's Featured Foto is another demonstration of what could be called the New York sensibility.
Every city has strikes. And, strikes mean picket lines.
But, does your city have portable inflatable rats that are parked in front of the establishment being picketed? I'm willing to bet you don't see this elsewhere. The Rat is a "subtle" way to let the public know that, a) there is a strike in progress at the establishment in question, and b) that there is some suspicion that some workers may actually be crossing the picket line.
Every time I see The Rat, I laugh. It's just a perfect example of how New Yorkers are so dramatic. The observant might have noticed the address above The Rat's right ear, "1435 Broadway." Yes, this Rat's on Broadway. But then, so are most New Yorkers!
Update: My son-in-law sent me several union-related rat sites. As it turns out, rats are a big business, 36 of them in Manhattan alone! This company is cleaning up on rats!
Tags: New York Strike Rat Inflatable Rat
New York is not the only city to be able to brag about their rat. Yes...BOSTON has one of those babies too, in fact I am willing to bet the union dudes got them from the same manufacturer. Actually now that I look closely, I would have to say Boston's rat is better, it has beady red eyes!! I drive by the rat often. I'll take a picture next time. I think those babies go for about 5 grand! Can you imagine being a fly on the wall at that meeting?
"All those in favor of spending 5 grand on the inflatable rat say I?"
Posted by: Kull | January 20, 2006 at 01:05 PM
In addition, around here the Rat doesn't necessarily mean there is a strike going on. The rat appears in Boston to protest jobs that are employing non-union construction workers aka "RATS". So when the unions get word of a good sized job employing rats, the big ol RAT gets called into service.
Posted by: Kull | January 20, 2006 at 01:09 PM
OK! So, now we have two cities with Rats. This, by the way, is not the only Rat in NY. I'll often see a couple a day in different locations, some better appointed than others! I look forward to seeing better looking ones.
Five grand for a Rat? Hey, what can you do?; scenary ain't cheap!
Posted by: Tom | January 20, 2006 at 01:09 PM
Ah ha. Non-union labor is clearly another use for The Rat. Maybe it can branch out to other purposes as well. What if The Rat was parked in front of every employer who used old versions of Office? Forced employees to use Internet Explorer. Didn't permit Web browsing on company time. At $5k a pop, this thing could be huge!
Posted by: Tom | January 20, 2006 at 01:14 PM
there are big rats in o-little-town-of-bethlehem. Saw one last week. My colleague thought it was erected to celebrate the year of the Rat for Chinese New Year. But that's next week and this is a DOG year. Someone else thought it was being used as a promotional gimmick, like when the used car dealership blows up a big gorilla. At least I knew it had SOMETHING to do with labor. But the location was not a well-travelled site, unlike Broadway NYC. So why go to the trouble of inflating a $5K ugly rat when nobody sees it? Maybe it scares people. It kind of scared me. And see, it got us all talking about it. Maybe it's a good investment after all.
Posted by: blaugra | January 24, 2006 at 02:08 PM