Soon, there were at least 30 Scabbys in the five boroughs 13 of them once reunited for a rally in Union Square. Most of the rats went to the East Coast, and most of those went to New York City, with the local chapter of theВ masons' union getting their hands on the first one. The rat business began booming and Big Sky was taking orders from all over the country. Scabby quickly caught on with other unions. (Big Sky also makes Greedy Pig and Fat Cat protest balloons.) O'Connor added bigger, pointier buckteeth and a pink belly bristling with gross-looking nipples.В The bricklayers loved it. When Big Sky ownerВ Mike O'Connor showed them his sketch, their criticism was succinct: 'It's not mean enough.' The bricklayers were looking for something big and nasty to get their point across at a protest. Scabby was born in 1990, when the Chicago bricklayers union contactedВ Plainfield,В Illinois-based Big Sky Balloons and Searchlights. That's right, 'Scabby the Rat' (as he was dubbed by his creators) hasВ been uglying up the sidewalks in front of union-unfriendly businesses for 21 years. This year, the rat-which theВ Labor Heritage Foundation callsВ an 'effective piece of street theater'-is old enough to grab a beer with guys when they've had their fill of picketing. Sometimes they'll bring a special guest-a giant inflatable rat with sharp, menacing buckteeth and claws, beady red eyes and a belly scattered with festering blemishes and swollen nipples. Burly guys in work boots and union shirts will take to the streets to wave signs, pass out flyers, and draw attention to whatever business has offended them. ?If you're from a town with a strong union presence, you know that if new commercial construction happens without union labor, protests often follow.

What are the names of the rat pack