Day 96

Scabby the Rat

April 4th, 2012



The universal sign of a disgruntled union, Scabby was stationed outside Beth Israel Medical Center today. His human companion was handing out flyers criticizing the hospital network for hiring "an irresponsible company to perform deadly asbestos removal."


2 Comments

  1. Gigi says:

    I didn’t know his name is Scabby, but I often see him in different places around the city.

  2. RON COOK, LU# 584 IBEW says:

    This is huge! Thank you so much for taking a stand to right the wrongs brought upon hard working people, by corrupt non-Union contractors; they ruin the lives of hard working men and women, by providing them no retirement, no health benefits, and no living wage! Their workers’ families live in trailer houses barely making rent, while the scabby rat contractors make off with millions in profit at the worker’s expense!!! “SCABBY THE RAT” has done more good for getting the word out about the unfair labor practices of non-Union contractors, than all the pickets walked since Ronald Reagan; who by the way, was a Republican Rat-Scab President, who sent in the National Guard to break up the air traffic controller’s strike back in the early ’80s.

    LONG LIVE SCABBY THE RAT!!!

    In the State where I am from, V.O.S. ELECTRIC, an acronym for Vandenheuvel’s Open Shop, has come in and taken the place over! Paying unqualified, non-Union workers minimum wage to do Heavy Commercial, and Industrial electrical work, while charging the customer upwards of $40.00 per hour for the sub-starndard work that was done! I’ve seen these guys run 4″ inch conduit suspended with nothing more than acoustic ceiling wire, then pull 500 mcm 400 amp copper cable through this conduit, which by now weighs 11 pounds per foot; the copper cable filled conduit was then covered up and hidden by acoustic ceiling tiles, and left swaying over the heads of unsuspecting secretaries, as they sat typing away… unaware of the danger hanging 10 feet above their heads!

    The Rat Contractor pays no retirement, no health insurance, and posts huge billboards that say, for example: 300 SAFE WORK DAYS! tomorrow will be 301, you don’t want to be the one to mess that up! This effectively intimidates his workers into not reporting accidents! He offers a free Bar-B-Que lunch for all the crews if they reach 365 safe work days. Men go home with deep cuts, dripping blood, and wrapped with electrical tape. Some go home with broken bones, to keep from being the one to mess that up! He holds meetings, telling his workers “This place is an island of employment security. If I had to raise your pay, like some of you are talking about, then I would have to start laying some of you off!” The workers go away from these meetings intimidated, and with broken spirits… I know this, because I’ve been to several of their safety and employment meetings, while “SALTING” their non-Union job sites all across the State.

    All the while, the Rat Contractor continues to get away with intimidating his employees, he is also socking away millions in unpaid wages, and low insurance premiums, because his employees are afraid to report accidents, and afraid to ask for a raise. When his workers retire, they find there is no pension to retire on, because he never paid one. They live out the rest of their lives, poor, crippled, cold, and hungry, because of the corrupt practices of the non-Union contractor. The workers are not the rats; they are just trying to make ends meet… THE NON-UNION CONTRACTOR IS THE RAT!!! The workers are not the scabs, they are just trying to feed their families… THE NON-UNION CONTRACTOR IS THE SCAB!!! Thank you Scabby Rat, for pointing this out to the public; who otherwise would go on about their lives “unaware”.

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