Scabby the Rat is an American labor icon. Why are his manufacturers disowning him?

The frightening character who appears amid union disputes can be traced back to a single factory - which wasn't unionized

In New York - a city poised to hire its first rat czar" after rat sightings doubled in the past year - street-side rodents are fairly commonplace. But the rat stationed on a Union Square curb is something of a different beast. This one is roughly 10ft tall, with incisors the size of iPads. Its eyes are bloodshot, its claws extended, and its belly marked with what look like open, oozing sores. Depending whom you ask, its name is Scabby", or just the Rat".

Since January, give or take, the Rat has been strapped into the bed of a Ford F-150, staring down Tammany Hall. The historic building is poised to become a giant pet store, Petco's New York flagship, a three-floor bestial mall equipped with its own animal hospital.