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An alert reader contributed this great this great Flickr shot of the cat on top of Radio City. Well, honestly, Gothamist thought this was a strange new breed of rat, different from the standard grey-on-its-hindlegs rat we see on the street. But then we read a Post story that explained it: It seems that Radio City Music Hall has put this cat on the marquee to counter the orchestra's union rat aross the street on Sixth Avenue! Radio City Music Hall and the orchestra union are fighting over "dwindling season of the theater and overtime" in their contract negotiations. Also, will the cat scare away tourists? Or will they be charmed by NYC labor disputes?
If you work at West 50th Street and 6th Avenue, let us know if they take the cat down and actually have it battle the rat. And we have to say, even though they are less threatening, Itchy and Scratchy inflatables would be cooler.
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It's unfortunate that the inflatable rats are made in China.
Does Radio City really help its cause by associating itself with a giant, toothy predator? Where's the big, inflatable Ted Nugent?
that's such an odd, odd response.
is there like a catalog from which we could all be buying huge novelty inflatable metaphoric animals? i'd like to put a large hedgehog outside my landlady's window.
What I want to know is, are there multiple giant inflatable rats in New York? I've seen them all over town, but I've never heard of there being one up in more than one place at a time. I wonder if there's some sort of waiting list I can get on to use the rat. Not that I want to protest my working conditions or anything. But I think that, with some garland and colored lights, the thing would make a bad-ass Christmas tree.
The union guys with the rat can get really out of control. When my friends and I went to the opening of the IFC theater, they were protesting the theater's use of non-union projectionists. They called everyone in line communists and terrorists-lovers. Okay, communist maybe... but terrorist lover?
wow that's amazing. the thing that kills me is that there's usually a gaggle of union workers assigned to WORK the rat. and they wonder why employers don't want to pay outrageous wages that much of the time go to waste?
on another note, i think i've just realized what i'm being for halloween.
It is amazing to me that of the six comments, and the story for that mtter, said nothing of the actual dispute.
The musicians in question are trying their best to stand their ground for a fair wage against the massive corporation Cable Vision. Cable Vision admits that they make a huge profit on the Christmas show each year but are refusing to pay the musicians in the show for the overtime that they work. A similar battle was waged with the Rockettes just weeks ago...hmm I see a pattern.
NYC used to be a labor sympathetic town. And a town known for its arts, but both seem to be declining. I do hope that if Cable Vision dosen't settle on this and they use canned music for the Christmas show, that New Yorkers will stand up and make a fuss.
ratlover - since neither the Post article or your post indicates how much money the musicians get and how much they are seeking it's no wonder that no one is commenting on the actual dispute. Maybe they're being screwed or maybe not. I think most NYers are labor sympathetic, but often they find that the union leaders calling for strikes are corrupt A-holes that are selling out the rank and file's interests. How about coughing up some details.
When i worked for a month during a summer in college with an NYC union, i was told that there were like six or seven rats in the NY labor movement that unions lend to eachother when necessary.
Cablevision are total scumbags. The shit they pulled on the service workers at MSG is totally unconscionable and I wish the folks from Local 802 the best of luck and will definitely not patronize Radio City Music hall unless this is settled satisfactorily.
I find it, that not only are these same rats used in protest against whatever construction company my school uses, but that I found this article by wondering about where one would buy an inflatable cat.
So, the "odd, odd response" might just be more juvenile than odd.
OK I'm sure nobody else is reading these ancient comments anymore, but I'd just like to say in response to #5: I don't think those union guys know what "communist" means. :P