NORTHWEST LABOR PRESS | July 19, 2019 | PAGE 3
Federal judge springs ‘Scabby
the Rat’ loose from NLRB trap
OSBCTC hosts Union Sportsmen’s Alliance dinner
The Union Sportsmen’s Alliance teamed up with the Oregon State Building and Construction Trades
Council July 12 to host the fourth annual conservation dinner. The event, held at the IBEW Local 48 Hall
in Portland. included dinner, a raffle, drawings, and auction. USA is a non-profit affiliate organization
of the national AFL-CIO. The conservation group raises funds at events throughout the country, then
works with volunteer union tradesmen and women on projects that conserve wildlife habitat, improve
access to the outdoors, restore parks, and provide youth mentorship. The Oregon group completed its
first “Boots on the Ground” project in May 2018 — performing work on a new shooting sports complex
for the Cascade Pacific Council Boy Scouts of America at Camp Meriwether on the Oregon Coast. Travis
Hopkins of Roofers Local 49 (pictured above center) helps coordinate the banquet and Boots on the
Ground projects in Oregon. He said the group is still looking for a second conservation project, but
they will host a fishing derby next spring for challenged youth and adults in the Bend/Redmond area.
The exact location has not been determined. The July 12 banquet drew some 250 members from 16
unions and vendors. United Food and Commercial Workers Local 555 was the evening’s Gold Sponsor.
The final tally of money raised had not been completed at press time. Whatever that amount is, Oregon
will keep 90% of the profit to add to their account, which now holds $24,000. For more information
about USA, go to http://unionsportsmen.org.
By Mark Gruenberg
Press Associates Inc.
BROOKLYN, N.Y.—A federal
judge turned labor’s famous
‘Scabby The Rat’ loose from a
trap—really a ban—set by the
Trump-appointed majority at the
National Labor Relations Board.
Instead, U.S. District Court Judge
Nicholas Garaufis said on July 1
that the Constitution’s First
Amendment right of free speech
protects the large inflatable rat—
and a big cockroach, too.
The case got started when La-
borers Local 79 picketed a
ShopRite store at a Staten Island
strip mall for union-busting. The
union set up two 10-foot-tall
rats—known throughout the la-
bor movement as a symbol of
someone who crosses a picket
line, or uses nonunion labor.
NLRB’s Brooklyn regional
office sued to ban the rats, thus
setting their trap. A check of
Board records showed this
wasn’t the first time the Trump
majority on the agency had tried
to ban the rat, all unsuccessful.
Judge Garaufis sprang the rat
loose from the NLRB’s trap, cit-
ing the same constitutional pro-
vision—the free speech clause—
which right-wingers use against
workers and unions, most no-
tably in last year’s U.S. Supreme
Court’s Janus decision. Janus
made every public employee in
the U.S. a potential “free rider,”
able to use union services with-
out paying for them. Forcing
payments for contract negotia-
tions and enforcement, the High
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