On Trend: 'Eat the Rich': Union Slogan Set Off a Merch Bonanza.

"A few weeks into the United Auto Workers strike, the union's straight-shooting president, Shawn Fain, appeared on a video livestream to update his members on the progress of negotiations. Things weren't going well, and Fain did not mince words.

"I'll tell it to you straight. The billionaires and company executives think us autoworkers are just dumb," he said.

This fiery rhetoric was matched by Fain's spicy fashion choice that day. Captured clearly in the frame, he was wearing a white T-shirt with the slogan printed in black: "Eat the Rich." On Fain's upper left was the conspicuous, wheel-shaped UAW insignia.

The shirt, with its cannibalistic catchphrase, became a wearable meme smash. Suddenly, Google search interest for "Eat the Rich shirt" neared a yearly high. A tweet posted by an account called @UnionDrip showing an image of Fain in the shirt has been viewed more than 2.6 million times. "I thought it was pretty badass," said John Elward, a UPS driver and longtime Teamster in Rohnert Park, Calif., who runs the account and posted the photo.

More than that, sites began selling $20ish "Eat the Rich" T-shirts in an identical Run-DMC-inspired design often with the UAW insignia in the same spot.

We are living in the era of maximum merch, where it seems that every historical event and quickly forgotten pop cultural phenomenon spawns its own accompanying merchandise. Some are weighty (the "I Can't Breathe" shirts that papered the streets in the wake of George Floyd's killing), many reflect political leanings (the enduring MAGA hat) and some are plain frivolous (the Etsy onslaught of crossover tees dedicated to Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce).

For the UAW, the surge of unsanctioned "Eat the Rich" copycats poses a bit of a problem. Despite their insignia, they aren't official union gear. They are produced overseas and aren't union-made.

According to the Detroit Free Press, Fain received the shirt from a union member, and it was inspired by an Oct. 5 New York Times article about Fain's antielitist approach titled, "New UAW Chief Has a Nonnegotiable Demand: Eat the Rich." The UAW, which didn't comment for this article, doesn't sell its own "Eat the Rich" tee, potentially leaving some fundraising dollars on the table.

"The fact that there are so many bootleg sites wanting to do this really suggests that the UAW need to do it because there's a lot of people making money off of that," said Erik Loomis, a professor at the University of Rhode Island, who specializes in the history of labor movements. He tried buying an "Eat the Rich" shirt after spotting it on Fain, but backed off after realizing the proceeds wouldn't benefit the union.

Indeed, these "Eat the Rich" bootlegs can be deceptive. The sites selling them all look similar: slick, easy-to-navigate and bright. Many descriptions throw around words like "official" and cite Fain and the UAW in the product name.

"Show your support for the UAW strike and the working class with this Shawn Fain Eat The Rich Uaw Shirt," read the copy on a T-shirt listed for around $22 on the site viralstyle.com.

The Journal contacted 20 websites, including viralstyle.com, that sell versions of "Eat the Rich" shirts, to ask about sales figures and if they donated any of their proceeds to the UAW, but none responded. Within hours, many of the sites took down their shirts.

At a time of profound income inequality in America, the T-shirt slogan has resonated far beyond the union's ranks. "The message on that shirt really speaks to a culture in which anti-rich messaging has a power that it really hasn't had before in America, or at least not for a long time," said Loomis.

Led by Fain, 55, a 29-year union veteran, the UAW waged a particularly antagonistic campaign against Detroit's Goliath automakers, General Motors, Ford Motor and the Chrysler parent Stellantis. In the early stages of negotiations, Fain wadded up a "lowball" proposal from Stellantis and chucked it into a black trash can. His taped missives to union members could be blunt and provocative. In support, UAW members wore their own shirts with Fain's face printed on them during the strike. But it was the "Eat the Rich" shirt that became a snappy, cotton-based meme summing up the union's stance -- both at the bargaining table and philosophically.

Certainly, the UAW does not have a monopoly on the phrase. The slogan is attributed to the 18th-century Swiss philosopher Jean-Jacques Rousseau, who reportedly declared, "When the people shall have nothing more to eat, they will eat the rich." Particularly in recent decades, the munch-on-the-monied rallying cry has appeared on cardboard placards and graffitied walls during French protests against the pension reform, at the G-20 summit in Germany and at campaign rallies for Bernie Sanders. Fain's T-shirt also recalled the polarizing "Tax the Rich" mermaid gown, created by the New York designer Aurora James and worn by the democratic representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez to the Met Gala in 2021.

As for the UAW, it now has its sights on supporting union drives at foreign automakers in the U.S. and Elon Musk's Tesla. No word on if Fain will pull out the "Eat the Rich" tee when he squares off against the richest man on Earth." [1]

1. On Trend: 'Eat the Rich': Union Slogan Set Off a Merch Bonanza. Gallagher, Jacob.  Wall Street Journal, Eastern edition; New York, N.Y.. 08 Nov 2023: A.11.