[uupretirees] Scabby the Rat is protected speech.

  • From: Eric Russell <ericprussell@xxxxxxxxxxx>
  • To: Fred Kowal <fkowal@xxxxxxxxxxx>, Bill Scheuerman <bscheuerm@xxxxxxxxxxx>, "Simons, William" <William.Simons@xxxxxxxxxxx>, Uupretirees Yahoogroups <uupretirees@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
  • Date: Thu, 22 Jul 2021 13:13:25 +0000

A win for Labor.  The times they are a-changing.  Eric

Daily Business 
Briefing<https://www.nytimes.com/live/2021/07/21/business/economy-stock-market-news?action=click&pgtype=Article&module=&state=default&region=header&context=breakout_link_back_to_briefing>
The National Labor Relations Board grants a reprieve to inflatable rats.
[https://static01.nyt.com/images/2019/07/30/nyregion/21economy-briefing-rat/merlin_99087196_8d13a36f-c81a-4e0a-ac1c-776ab97112ee-articleLarge.jpg?quality=75&auto=webp&disable=upscale]
[The National Labor Relations Board ruled that the use of oversized, inflatable 
rats is a permissible effort to persuade bystanders. One of the rats was 
featured in a Labor Day parade in New York.]
The National Labor Relations Board ruled that the use of oversized, inflatable 
rats is a permissible effort to persuade bystanders. One of the rats was 
featured in a Labor Day parade in New York.Credit...Kirsten Luce for The New 
York Times
[Noam Scheiber]<https://www.nytimes.com/by/noam-scheiber>

By Noam Scheiber<https://www.nytimes.com/by/noam-scheiber>

  *   July 21, 2021

It turns out that inflatable rodents may be as unstoppable as their living, 
breathing cousins.

On Wednesday, the National Labor Relations Board ruled that unions can position 
large synthetic props like 
rats<https://apps.nlrb.gov/link/document.aspx/09031d45834c7505>, often used to 
communicate displeasure over employment practices, near a work site even when 
the targeted company is not directly involved in a labor dispute.

While picketing companies that deal with employers involved in labor disputes — 
known as a secondary boycott — is illegal under labor law, the board ruled that 
the use of oversized rats, which are typically portrayed as ominous creatures 
with red eyes and fangs, is not a picket but a permissible effort to persuade 
bystanders.

Union officials had stationed the rat in question, a 12-foot-tall specimen, 
close to the entrance of a trade show in Elkhart, Ind., in 2018, along with two 
banners. One banner accused a company showcasing products there, Lippert 
Components, of “harboring rat contractors” — that is, doing business with 
contractors that do not use union labor.

Lippert argued that the rat’s use was illegal coercion because the creature was 
menacing and was intended to discourage people from entering the trade show. 
But the board found that the rat was a protected form of expression.

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“Courts have consistently deemed banners and inflatable rats to fall within the 
realm of protected speech, rather than that of intimidation and the like,” the 
ruling said.

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The rise of the rodents, often known as “Scabby the Rat,” dates to the early 
1990s, when an Illinois-based company began 
manufacturing<https://www.vice.com/en/article/avnmgp/the-history-of-scabby-the-rat>
 them for local unions intent on drawing attention to what they considered 
suspect practices, such as using nonunion labor. The company later began making 
other inflatable totems, like fat cats and greedy pigs, for the same purpose.

  *   Refer someone to The Times.

They’ll enjoy our special rate of $1 a 
week.<https://www.nytimes.com/share?channel=ometered&areas=dock&campaign=corereferral>

The labor relations board had previously blessed rats in a 2011 ruling. But 
seven years later, its general counsel, Peter B. Robb, sought to reopen the 
debate.

Mr. Robb, a Trump appointee, issued an internal 
memo<https://www.nlrb.gov/case/13-CC-225655> in 2018 arguing that erecting a 
rat near an employer that was not directly involved in a labor dispute amounted 
to “unlawful coercion” — an attempt to disrupt the business of a neutral party. 
His office subsequently intervened on behalf of the companies in a handful of 
cases in which firms sought to block unions from deploying large inflatable 
paraphernalia close to their facilities.

One of those cases<https://www.nlrb.gov/case/29-CC-241297> was dismissed, while 
a successor to Mr. Robb sought to 
dismiss<https://www.nlrb.gov/case/04-CC-223346> another. (A judge has yet to 
rule on the motion to dismiss that case.)

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In the case brought by Lippert, an administrative law judge ruled against the 
company<https://local150.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/Lippert.pdf> in 2019, 
arguing that the rat did not amount to a picket or illegal coercion.

The judge noted that the rat and banners, which were erected by members of a 
local branch of the International Union of Operating Engineers, were stationary 
and did not create confrontation with passers-by. There was no evidence that 
the two union representatives present marched in front of the trade show or 
blocked people from entering, the judge wrote. They appeared to merely sit 
beside the rat.

The company appealed to the labor board in Washington, which solicited public 
comment<https://www.nlrb.gov/news-outreach/news-story/nlrb-invites-briefs-on-bannering-and-displays-of-scabby-the-rat>
 last fall on whether it should modify or overturn the precedent.

But the board’s chairman, Lauren McFerran, a Democratic appointee, concluded 
that precedent required dismissing the complaint. Two Republican appointees 
indicated that they considered the precedent flawed but that banning inflatable 
rats would violate the First Amendment.

A lone Republican appointee, William J. Emanuel, argued that the precedent 
should be overturned.

Noam Scheiber is a Chicago-based reporter who covers workers and the workplace. 
He spent nearly 15 years at The New Republic magazine, where he covered 
economic policy and three presidential campaigns. He is the author of “The 
Escape Artists.” @noamscheiber<https://twitter.com/noamscheiber>

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  • » [uupretirees] Scabby the Rat is protected speech. - Eric Russell