New York (AFP)

New Yorkers are used to seeing rats on the streets, but they aren't always small and hairy. Sometimes they are inflated with air and are eight meters high.

These giant balloons are one of the favorite weapons of American unions to protest during conflicts.

"They are used to show injustices," said AFP the local manager of a construction workers' union, Justice Favor, in front of a threatening inflatable rat with a crust-covered stomach, dressed in rabbit teeth and two Red eyes.

That morning, "Ratacroûte", as he is nicknamed, settled in front of the headquarters of a property developer accused of paying his workers less than the salary negotiated by the union.

"People stop and ask what's going on. It's a great tool for the public to be aware of" a wage dispute, said Favor, 37.

The idea for this inflatable rat came from Chicago, where it appeared in 1990, before being adopted by New York unions ten years later. Now famous, he has his own Twitter account and even did TV, in an episode of the series "The Sopranos".

For passers-by who do not know the meaning of the giant rat, the trade unionists distribute leaflets explaining their action.

"First I thought it was because of the rats in the metro, then I read the flyer," said 38-year-old hairdresser Zarinah Ali.

- Rich and obese cats -

The balloons are made by Big Sky Balloons, a company based in Illinois, which proudly claims on its site to have created "Ratacroûte".

New York unions own dozens, which can cost several thousand dollars and are between two and eight meters tall.

There is also an obese cat smoking a cigar with a bag full of dollars in his hand, a pig in a ponytail jacket and top hat, and a cockroach.

"If we put them all together, it would look like Macy's parade," jokes union leader Mike Hellstrom, referring to the department store's annual Thanksgiving parade in New York.

For Mr. Hellstrom, who is credited with having brought "Ratacroûte" to New York, the balloons look awful in order to give "a real picture of what operations look like".

Companies are often irritated by these balloons and one of them was even deflated with needles.

But they have for some time been the target of much more serious attacks before the courts, where arguments on the right to strike and freedom of expression have been exchanged.

- Judicial battle -

In 2017, President Donald Trump appointed Peter Robb as legal counsel to the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), the federal agency supposed to ensure that labor law is properly enforced.

His services have since filed several complaints, viewing the giant balloons as illegal pickets.

This year, the NLRB asked a court to stop a union from deploying "Ratacroûte" in front of a supermarket in New York's Staten Island neighborhood.

But the court agreed with the union's arguments, confirming previous decisions that the rat is protected by the first amendment to the Constitution, which guarantees freedom of expression and peaceful protest.

The legal battle continues, and the struggle is far from over.

The federal agency "is trying by all means to condemn this symbol, which would purely and simply become the first illegal symbol in the history of American jurisprudence," union lawyer Tamir Rosenblum told AFP. The NLRB declined to comment.

Joshua Freeman, a union history specialist at New York City University, said the federal agency has become increasingly politicized and is more concerned with protecting employers than employees.

The agency's leaders say to themselves, "Our man is in the White House, let's go as far as possible," he told AFP.

But union officials assure that "Ratacroûte" and the other balloons will not disappear from New York.

"They can always attack us, they will meet total resistance, I am ready to be arrested for this rat," said Mike Hellstrom.

© 2019 AFP