Tuesday, October 31, 2006

Forest from the Trees

So in New York if you're a business that's using scab workers or non-union labor, you will often find that a huge inflatable Rat will be set up in front of your establishment. It took me a while to figure out what these 15' tall rats were doing, as I had only seen things like this on top of a car dealership during a 'Pied Piper Chevy Clearance Event'(crappy but true). Unless I am ignorant to the significance of the rodent figure in Labor relations I think you gotta dress that Rat up in some signage, give him a minor's helmet or show him getting whipped so the passer by knows what the balloon is doing on Park Ave. Show the Rat at his grievance meeting after getting caught sleeping in his work truck, accept this time he's doesn't have a union steward to ask "did you tell this union brother he wasn't allowed to sleep in his work truck during the hours he's being paid to perform a job?", show him when he then gets fired and has to go back to living in a discarded toilet bowl at the dump (pretty hard for a Rat of that size to do). Save the money spent on the blow up Rat and procure a truck load of live Rats to release into the business you're protesting. Are we certain that the watchdog group who's posting the air filled vermin, and looking out for the little guy, is a union shop? Do I need to form a watch dog group to keep an eye on a watch dog group? Do I need to form a watch dog group to guard the rights of actual watch dogs? Every time I see a watch dog in Brooklyn it's guarding a lot where it seems like there's nothing worth protecting. You can't leave a pooch no matter how bad ass it thinks it is out in the elements to protect a rusted out wood burning stove and some old car parts. Now more than ever winning the lottery is the only way to break the cycle.