Last week, a giant inflatable rat protested alone outside the future Ridgewood Whole Foods at 55-60 Myrtle Avenue.

The rat in question, Scabby, is commonly deployed by unions to protest open shop construction. The union behind the Ridgewood rat incident is the NYC District Council of Carpenters.

Outside the former Rite-Aid, NYCDCC representatives declined to comment, but the union’s communications director Jill Watson later said by email, “We had our trusty friend, Scabby, up for only a couple days, doing what he does well, because the job was going to be built open shop,” meaning that construction would be done by non-union labor.

Nationally, Amazon—Whole Foods’ parent company—is one of many large corporations notable for union-busting tactics that go on unabated. Over in Philadelphia, Whole Foods has allegedly fired employees for labor organizing.

In Queens, capital’s control of labor has run into issues before opening. Per Watson, the general contractor Amazon is using—unnamed in DOB filings—agreed to hire union labor soon after Scabby arrived. Watson also said that the contractors in question committed to hiring union labor for future Whole Foods in the city.

The organic grocer’s arrival was announced by Crain’s in December as an early Christmas present to a neighborhood and area facing multiple gentrifying pressures: shifting retail, changing soundscapes, and some of the hottest real estate in New York City. The deal was brokered by RIPCO between Whole Foods and Norse Realty.

Watson added, “NYC was and is a union town, and we always fight for our members and for all jobs to be built union in the city.”

A Whole Foods is also set to arrive in Bushwick. Whole Foods did not respond to a request for comment. Scabby’ll probably have more work to do soon.

Photos courtesy of the NYCDCC.