The rally was part of a national week of action sponsored by the AFL-CIO called "7 days in June." Union officials reported that 150 activities, including speakouts, rallies, and marches, were organized in 36 states to put heat on targeted companies.

The inflatable rats have become a common sight all over New York. From construction sites where bosses attempt to use nonunion workers, to the picket line at the Domino Sugar refinery, where members of the International Longshoremen's Association (ILA) have waged a year-long strike, to the Museum of Modern Art, where striking United Auto Workers members are fighting to defend their health-care benefits and wages, the rats have become a popular tool to bring attention and solidarity to different labor fights.

Workers came to the rally representing about 15 different struggles. Commenting on the labor action, Sam Malloy, a member of Teamsters Local 1205, said, "I loved it! Workers who are fighting see they're not the only ones." Malloy is one of the dozen workers fighting for a contract at Rode & Horn Lumber in Brooklyn. They have been locked out since October.

A contingent from ILA Local 1814, which is entering its 12th month on strike, stood in front of a rat wearing a Domino Sugar sign. The 300 workers there went on strike last June after Domino offered a contract aimed at weakening the union by removing the seniority system, several holidays, and all personal and sick days.

Héctor Figueroa, a member of Service Employees International Union Local 32B-32J, spoke to the crowd about two local struggles. "Cleaners are on strike against two rats: Golden Mark and Muss Development," Figueroa stated. "In the last five weeks, workers have been struggling for better wages, benefits, and the right to organize a union of their choice. Sí se puede! (Yes we can)," he declared.

Building cleaners struck Muss after the bosses tried to intimidate workers by spying on them, and not allowing them to wear union buttons or pass out union literature. They also tried to force them to join a company union. Among others who spoke was a worker at Time Warner Cablevision, who explained how that company has punished workers for unionizing, and a leader of the seven-week strike against the Museum of Modern Art, where the bosses told the strikers their union was "too militant for a museum" and they should accept cuts in health-care benefits.

The rally ended with a brief speech by Hermenegido Macareno, a leader of a recent five-month strike against Adinah's Farms, a produce market in Manhattan. Macareno and the handful of other workers in the market successfully organized themselves into Local 169 of the Union of Needletrades, Industrial and Textile Employees. "Now we have medical benefits and are paid for overtime and holidays. It was a victory for all of us," he stated.  
 
 
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