Scabby the Rat Criticizes Construction Contract with New Sign

Scabby the Rat beside "Shame on You! Marist College" sign. Credit: Ava Battinelli ‘26

Edited Feb. 21, 2024.

Scabby the Rat, the 12-foot tall inflatable symbol of labor protests, has captured the attention of Marist College students, faculty and staff alike. 

The rat with red eyes, yellow teeth and oozing blisters on its stomach is stationed right outside the North Gate of campus on Route 9 beside a banner that reads, “Shame on You! Marist College,” with a photo of President Kevin Weinman’s face, a new addition as of Feb. 14. 

“They’re on public property, and it's not associated with the College. We can't keep them from doing what they want to do on public property,” said Director of Safety and Security John Blaisdell.

In this case, Scabby represents the workers of the company Professional Drywall who have been hired to do construction on the Dyson Center. The workers feel they are not being paid equally to other workers in the area, according to the initial flier handed out by picketers on behalf of the unionized workers.

The first time Scabby was seen at Marist was November 2023, and he has returned. Each day he is there, Scabby is accompanied by a couple of workers handing out flyers explaining the situation. 

The original flyer informed the public that Pike Construction Corp., LLC hired Professional Drywall to work on the Dyson Center, which has been under construction since the summer of 2022 and is planned to be completed by the fall of 2024. 

According to that flyer, “Professional Drywall is not paying its workers the Area Standards in wages and benefits established in this area by District Council No. 9 Painters and Allied Trades.”

It states that by doing this, the contractor is destroying the workers' ability to care for themselves and their buying power.

The new flyer, updated on Feb. 14, included the same information as before and added information more personal to Marist. The title reads, “The Truth About Marist College,” and discusses how much Marist costs for students to attend. 

It continued to say that “On May 10, 2022, the college entered an agreement with the Dutchess County Local Development Corporation to issue fixed-rate serial and term bonds in the amount of $58,190,000” to finance the construction of the Dyson Center. 

The new flyer added, “Low-interest loan from the county, high cost to attend and still overlooking the fact that a contractor is not providing its worker the area standards in wages and benefits.” 

The phone numbers of both Pike Construction and Professional Drywall were listed on the original flyer. The updated flyer only included Professional Drywall’s number and added Marist’s number. Professional Drywall has yet to respond to multiple requests for comment.

Project Executive of Pike Construction Services, Brian N. Hallett, provided insight on the matter.

“Workers are being paid according to predetermined rates negotiated with the union,” said Hallet. “This is an attempt by DC9 to show opposition against nonunion contractors and is intended to call public attention to companies employing nonunion labor.”

According to Hallet, union and nonunion firms were allowed to bid on the project, and the majority of subcontracts ended up going to unionized firms.

Hallet claims the dispute is between a carpentry subcontractor and the local Painter’s Union over using union or nonunion labor on Dyson. “The carpentry subcontractor tried to hire a union contractor for the drywall taping, but that contractor did not have the staffing levels available to complete the job. As a result, a nonunion contractor is being used instead.”

Hallet said this issue will not impact construction and will continue on the project timeline as planned.

Anthony Proia, director of media relations, said Marist is not directly involved in the hiring of the subcontractors for the Dyson Center construction. 

“This issue is between the project’s carpentry subcontractor, who is a union contractor, and the local Painter’s Union over drywall taping,” said Proia. “We understand an attempt was made to hire a union contractor for that work, but that contractor did not have the staffing necessary for the job, so a nonunion vendor was used.”

Some members of the Marist community have approached the workers to inquire if there was anything students could do to support what they are doing. 

“They didn’t say too much but told me they appreciated me being interested in their message,” said Evan Spillane ‘25.

Director of Physical Plant at Marist, Justin Butwell, has yet to comment on the situation.