The unstoppable history of an inflatable rat

As the part-time faculty strike began on Wednesday morning, an 8 ft. tall inflatable rat with a lengthy history in labor movements appeared on Fifth Avenue in front of The New School’s University Center.

Meet Scabby, a massive, grotesque rat that watches over unionizers and protestors as they protest poor treatment of employees. Scabby’s origins are contested, although Local 150, a construction worker union based in Chicago, claims they created Scabby while protesting labor issues in the 1980s. It began with a drawing of a rat on a protest sign, moved into uncomfortably hot costumes worn by union members and eventually Big Sky Balloons was commissioned to create the 12-foot-tall inflatable rodent familiar to many today.

The name Scabby refers to the derogatory term “scab,” coined by unions in the nineteenth century for workers who wouldn’t join in strike efforts or businesses that would hire people specifically to cross the picket lines. Unions have found that Scabby works to bring interest to their concerns.

“If you put up a balloon animal outside of a business, people are going to want to know what’s going on,” Jerry Gozdya, an organizer with Local 1 of the Union Bricklayers and Allied Crafters in New York, said in an interview with The New York Times.

A car festival in 2018 where Scabby was present became the source of a lawsuit by Peter B. Robb, who claimed Scabby was so “intimidating” and “scary” that his presence could incite a “secondary boycott,” [source]. Robb had been elected leader of the National Labor Relations Board by former President Donald Trump.

The National Labor Relations Board, which, according to The New York Times, filed briefs for several cases involving Scabby and other balloon animals in 2019, including the car festival and another case regarding two rats that had been placed outside of a hotel in Philadelphia, argued that the rats should be banned permanently. At the time, the board consisted of five Republican men and Robb. 

Two years later, in 2021, the cases were resolved by President Joe Biden’s firing of Robb. The National Labor Relations Board later determined that inflatable rats were here to stay as important sources of labor union symbolism and history. Scabby remains a fixture in the world of the union much like real rats are a fixture of New York City.

For The New School, Scabby’s early morning appearance came after a short struggle to inflate him against the violent winds of Fifth Avenue. Scabby’s presence was greatly appreciated by the dozens of students, student workers and faculty members on the picket line. Many took pictures in front of him, and protestors occasionally took hold of his claws as they passed by as though he were a good luck token. An ACT-UAW Local 7902 “on strike” sign was quickly placed in front of Scabby, who stood glaring directly into the University Center. 

When the second shift of picketing began at 3:30 p.m., Scabby was reduced to a pile on the side of the UC next to the main organizing table. Despite his exit, the spirit of Scabby remained as people continued to protest in front of the university.