On this week’s Labor Heritage Power Hour: We go inside the Ohio factory where Scabby the Rat—and his friends the Greedy Pig, Fat Cat and Mother Jones—come to life. Dave Sherba of Inflatable Images tells us how Scabby was created 34 years ago and takes us through the process of transforming a three-dimensional design into printed, cut and carefully sewn vinyl. Along the way, we meet the workers whose creativity and skill have produced thousands of the labor movement’s most recognizable inflatable icons.
Then, Carmen Rodriguez of El Cafecito del Día talks with historian Eladio Bobadilla about his new book, Dangerous Migration: Mexican Labor and the Fight for Immigrant Rights. Bobadilla traces the long history of portraying immigrants as threats, examines the labor movement’s complicated—and sometimes deeply troubling—relationship with undocumented workers and explains why “solidarity is not negotiable.”
We also pay tribute to Dolly Parton, the country and pop legend whose songs never forgot the struggles, humor and dignity of working people, with “9 to 5,” “Coat of Many Colors,” “Daddy’s Working Boots,” “In the Good Old Days (When Times Were Bad)” and “Working Girl.”
Plus, Harold Phillips has the latest labor arts news and events.
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