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I'd heard of online services through which it's possible to rent protesters for a couple of hours. But never had I heard of a union outsourcing its picket line until I read today's Washington Post:

Although their placards identify the picketers as being with the Mid-Atlantic Regional Council of Carpenters, they are not union members.

They're hired feet, or, as the union calls them, temporary workers, paid $8 an hour to picket. Many were recruited from homeless shelters or transitional houses. Several have recently been released from prison. Others are between jobs. [...]

Carpenters locals across the country are outsourcing their picket lines, hiring the homeless, students, retirees and day laborers to get their message across.

With bone-headed tactics like these, it's no wonder American unions are in decline. So what's next? Are the "temporary workers" going to somehow offshore their jobs to India so they can pocket the lion's share of the eight bucks?