No Scabs Bumper Sticker, 1987. Courtesy of the Maine Paper and Heritage Museum.
No Scabs Bumper Sticker, 1987. Courtesy of the Maine Paper and Heritage Museum.
A scab is a scornful name for a replacement worker. The rat, illustrated on this sticker, was a common symbol for strike breakers. Business owners often replace strikers with new hires to undermine the strike.
The International Paper Company hired the company, B. E. & K., to bring in permanent replacement workers allowing the company to continue producing paper. After an unsuccessful sixteen-month standoff, the national United Paperworkers International Union called off the strike. The majority of the striking workers at the Androscoggin Mill permanently lost their jobs.