[log in to unmask] wrote:

> Rat pumping refers to the giant (15' high, +/-) inflatable rat the the
> construction unions (particularly the laborers) set up on sites where
> non-union construction workers are employed, generally at the
> beginning of a project.
>
> As for unions, we understood that plumbing was not as universal Down
> South as it is Up Nawth, but one would have thought you guys at least
> had access to, or at least technical knowledge of, the various
> fittings. Ralph

Ralph,
When did rat pumping begin? I don't recall seeing them in NYC 20 years
ago at the non-union non-profit CBC construction sites.   Do the union
guys inflate them with helium and use them in the Labor Day parade ala
Macys?
As to plumbing, we can tell if sumpthing is straight up and down as well
as Yankees - or in your case Southern emigree-  but we don't need no
Union feller fer that, just a strang and a chunk of metal with a point
on it.
Mitch.



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F. Mitchener Wilds, Senior Restoration Specialist
Restoration Branch
State Historic Preservation Office
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http://www.hpo.dcr.state.nc.us

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