Business & Tech

Smell a Rat? Union Workers Protest Discount Tire Construction

If you drove down Route 30 through New Lenox on Monday, chances are you saw a giant, inflatable rat.

New businesses often use giant inflatables to promote grand openings. But a 12-foot, buck-toothed rat normally won't do the trick, though it certainly caught my eye while I was driving on Monday.

The blow-up rodent was along Route 30 this week in front of the construction site for Discount Tire, which is coming to the area next to . But because the construction company is using non-union workers, some who are in unions were picketing late last week and again on Monday.

Members of the Local 75 Laborers Union in Joliet explained the story behind the giant rat.

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"Back in the day when non-union workers were hired they were called rats," union member Ron Corona said. "But now everyone is looking for work, so maybe it's not as fair to call them rats."


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