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Rats Off to Ya!
Via Fark, the New Jersey Supreme Court is looking at the case of union members who displayed a big black plastic rat at a protest and, as it happened, broke the law.
The super-sized rat — on its hind legs and bearing fangs — had been blown up and situated at a 2005 labor event until police ticketed the senior union official onsite for violating a local sign law.
The event, at Gold's Gym in Lawrence, was staged by the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW) to protest low wages being paid to electricians by an out-of-area contractor. The rat is a symbol used by organized labor to signal a labor dispute or the use of nonunion workers.
The labor official, Wayne DeAngelo, was fined $100 plus $33 court costs for violating a Lawrence Township ordinance preventing the display of the large, rat-shaped balloon.
The law bans banners, streamers and inflatable signs, except those announcing grand openings.
This isn't such a weird story: Those inflatable
rats are everywhere. Union protestors prop one up in downtown
D.C. every couple of weeks, shaming some shop or another.
Lawrence's law is a pretty minor quality-of-life measure (look at
that tiny fine), but that doesn't mean it's constitutional.
Headline explained here (kind
of).
|9.14.07 @ 1:15PM|#
Are wacky waving inflatable arm flailing tube men exempt?
They're not really inflatable in that they're meant to leak in
order to cause the wacky arm waving motion. They're not banners or
streamers. And they're totally adorable.
|9.14.07 @ 1:15PM|#
I'm not saying I like the ban, but I wonder if the cops were worried that the rat symbol could be an incitement to violence against non-union workers. At least when I lived in Philly a few years ago, the IBEW was notorious for violence. The head of the local aspires to be mayor of Philly (shudder) and basically already runs the town already.
|9.14.07 @ 1:16PM|#
Holy Crap! I just saw two giant freaking inflatable rats the
other day at a union protest - one was 15ft tall. Craziest thing
I've seen in a long time (and I live in Philly, so that says
something).
Who would have thought there'd be a business for renting out giant
inflatable rats?
Fluffy|9.14.07 @ 1:17PM|#
Well, lots of people find all sorts of ways to claim that
"commercial speech" shouldn't be protected by the 1st Amendment
when it's a business doing the speaking. So why should this be any
different?
If "Buy Bob's Rugs for $100" isn't protected speech, then "Pay Me
More Money To Be An Electrician" shouldn't be protected speech,
either. It's an economic message the same way advertisting is.
Mike Laursen|9.14.07 @ 1:24PM|#
Woohoo! A chance for libertarians to say something in defense of
unions.
Giant plastic rats are clearly a form of free speech, and this
libertarian is outraged!
|9.14.07 @ 1:26PM|#
tk: Yes, indeed, I'm talking about Johnny Dock. The Philly
Inquirer runs articles about him every now and then, which you can
tell have been carefully vetted by newspaper lawyers so that the
word "mafia" is implied but never actually stated. (A libel suit is
probably the least of the risks they face.)
I was once shanghai'ed into going to a fundraiser for his brother,
who was running for judge. After a two minute conversation, I
seriously wondered how the guy could have ever passed a literacy
test, let alone a bar exam. But with Johnny's backing, he now
graces the Philadelphia bench.
Gotta love Philly politics. It's just so over-the-top, I miss
it.
|9.14.07 @ 1:29PM|#
I was a scab when I was in college. Admit it- you're
shocked.
If the IBEW can put up a rat, can the business owner put up a
pirate?
|9.14.07 @ 1:32PM|#
Woohoo! A chance for libertarians to say something in
defense of unions.
Giant plastic rats are clearly a form of free speech, and this
libertarian is outraged!
I won't say outraged, but these stupid sign ordinances piss me off.
In Livonia, MI it took months and, Odin only knows how many,
dollars, to resolve whether a Big Boy statue, violated a sign
ordinance. Jeez.
ed|9.14.07 @ 1:32PM|#
Giant plastic rats are clearly a form of free
speech
In the libertarian world, what isn't free speech? In other
words, is all behavior a form of protected speech? It seems to
be.
ed|9.14.07 @ 1:38PM|#
Constipation isn't free speech.
No, but the resolution of said condition is.
Especially when you do it on the steps of a capitol building.
Franklin Harris|9.14.07 @ 1:40PM|#
Woohoo! A chance for libertarians to say something in defense of unions.
Technically, we're not defending unions. We're defending giant,
inflatable rats.
Franklin Harris|9.14.07 @ 1:41PM|#
Tim and Eric are awesome.
Just because it says that in the title doesn't make it true.
|9.14.07 @ 1:43PM|#
In the libertarian world, what isn't free speech?
Burning someone in Effigy. [A small town outside of
Springfield.]
Burning someone in effigy, though, is permitted.
|9.14.07 @ 1:54PM|#
Woohoo! A chance for libertarians to say something in
defense of unions.
Giant plastic rats are clearly a form of free speech, and this
libertarian is outraged!
Unions vs Government - Reason will side with unions
Unions vs Corporations - Reason will side with corporations
Corporations vs Government - Reason will side with corporations
|9.14.07 @ 2:10PM|#
Unions vs Corporations - Reason will side with corporations
Unions *ARE* corporations, so your generalization is a little bit
off.
Mike Laursen|9.14.07 @ 2:19PM|#
You're right! If Reason would just change it so Government crushes Corporations, lil' Reason readers could play "Government, Unions, Corporations" in schoolyards across the country.
|9.14.07 @ 2:25PM|#
I bet the non-union workers were getting about $20 an hour too.
Unions are dying fast because they demand the lifeblood of
business. I say let them go or let them get with the program.
People work for less than what they demand, without the headache of
slacking ass workers that are protected form being terminated among
other things.
About the violence, I have seen some really terrible things happen
at strikes over the years. Violence is not an option. Strike
violence should automatically turn into a decertification emposed
by the NLRB.
MattXIV|9.14.07 @ 2:31PM|#
I think the ban will pass consitutiontal muster (with the possible exception of the "Grand Opening" exemption) since it's pretty content-neutral, but I still think it's an inappropriate law. You should be able to put up whatever giant inflatable crap you want as long as it isn't damaging anything or obstructing anybody.
|9.14.07 @ 2:34PM|#
If Reason would just change it so Government crushes Corporations, lil' Reason readers could play "Government, Unions, Corporations" in schoolyards across the country.
Ah, Mike, your logic's off. We would need to have Government trump
Unions for a balanced game. Otherwise you could throw Unions all
the time and either 1) force Government or Corporations into
compliance or 2) result in an endless stalemate.
Strangely, Detroit comes to mind...
Mike Laursen|9.14.07 @ 3:04PM|#
Dan T.'s rules were a little confusing because he stated the
trumping relationship backwards in one case. If you normalize, he
had:
Corporations trump Government
Corporations trump Unions
Unions trump Government
My fix is:
Government trumps Corporations (this rule changed)
Corporations trump Unions
Unions trump Government
Of course, it wouldn't really be a proper Reason Rochambeau unless
it also included "Damned Dirty Hippies" as a possible throw.
Asharak|9.14.07 @ 7:23PM|#
They have the right to display giant inflatable rats all they
want as far as I'm concerned, but I've never understood the
hostility against "scabs" that unions have. It's quite
counterproductive.
Nasty tactics against non-union workers is something that's also
gone hand in hand with the racism in American organized labor, and
leftists tend to get evasive or simply dismiss it as capitalist
propaganda when you bring it up.
|9.14.07 @ 8:49PM|#
Unions *ARE* corporations
Sorry, Rex Rhino, 'fraid not. Corporations are profit-seeking
exploiters of the ignorant. Unions, as you know, are above such
petty concerns; organized solely for the benefit of the public good
and the defense of the lil' guy.
M|9.14.07 @ 9:10PM|#
Grand Opening: Rat 4 Sale. Make an Offer!
Obviously unions suppress entrepreneurial talent.
|9.15.07 @ 11:20AM|#
You should be able to put up whatever giant inflatable crap
you want as long as it isn't damaging anything or obstructing
anybody.
I used to live in the neighborhood of a Ford dealer who
consistently displayed a giant inflated something, usually
seasonally related, on the roof of his showroom. Silly me, I
thought it was cool.
|9.15.07 @ 11:23AM|#
...the racism in American organized labor, ...
Shhh! That's a secret of the left. Kind of like the retarded
step-brother in the attic.
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