3 lab rats sent out to play at restaurant

By all accounts, this was an unusual tactic in a labor dispute, even for Boston.

Thursday night, right in the midst of the dinnertime rush at one of the city's fanciest steakhouses, The Capital Grille on Newbury Street, a local labor leader allegedly walked into the dining room, opened a white shopping bag, and let three white rats loose.

A commotion ensued as the varmints scurried about and diners slicing $40 cuts of dry aged sirloin and other succulent entrees scattered. Out the door, police say, ran Louis J. Antonellis, a business agent for the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 103, pursued by the restaurant's manager and a parking valet.

Officers caught Antonellis a few blocks away and marched him back to the restaurant, where employees identified him as the man who had released the rodents. A police report suggested that Antonellis's motive had nothing to do with the food, which diners often rank among the best in Boston.

Instead, the report said, the electrical workers' union and The Capital Grille have been locked in a four-month dispute, the details of which remained murky yesterday.

Antonellis, 35, of Billerica, faces disorderly conduct charges. The rats are under quarantine, to make sure they are disease-free, at a city Animal Control Office in Roslindale and will be put up for adoption, a spokeswoman said.

In a city passionate about both its restaurants and its unions, the release of the rodents caused a stir among elected officials, restaurant patrons, and union activists yesterday.

Some expressed sympathy for the union, if not the tactic, while others condemned the action, no matter how justified the union's grievances.

``I'm all for the union's right to organize, but that is not a tactic that is going to earn them support anywhere," said Councilor Michael P. Ross of Beacon Hill, who dines occasionally at The Capital Grille. ``. . . That goes too far. That's criminal and inexcusable."

Rand Wilson, a veteran union organizer, said the action might have crossed the line, but added that the message Antonellis was trying to send was the right one. He said rats symbolize nonunion contractors who do not provide fair pay and benefits.

``Wages and working conditions for people who work hard and play by the rules aren't keeping up, so however you feel about the rats, it's much greater and more of a problem when people are undermining good jobs that we need to have," Wilson said.

The precise nature of the dispute was not clear yesterday. Antonellis and other leaders of his union, known as the IBEW, did not return calls for comment.

Robert J. Haynes, president of the Massachusetts AFL-CIO, said he had not heard of any disagreement.

He said the release of rodents did not fit the image of the IBEW, a 106-year-old union that prides itself on being tough but fair.

``I find it hard to believe anyone from IBEW 103 would do anything like that," Haynes said. ``They're a very reputable union."

Joseph A. Dart, president of the Massachusetts Building Trades Council, said he was also unaware of any grievance between The Capital Grille and the electrical workers.

But workers in some of the nearby shops on Newbury Street said the union had been outside the restaurant about a dozen times recently, protesting with a large inflatable rat.

David Hinojosa, who works at an Urban Outfitters store nearby, said workers had also passed out leaflets and carried signs declaring, ``Don't Eat at Capital Grille" and ``Don't Eat Rats."

``It's like a miniwar between the two of them," Hinojosa said.

Clearly, the use of live rats marked an escalation in the bitter battle.

The episode took place during a busy time, 6:45 p.m., when 140 patrons were dining in The Capital Grille's elegant main room, replete with white linen tablecloths, dark-wood paneling, and a portrait of Theodore Roosevelt, police said.

Antonellis allegedly walked in through the main door with his bag containing what police described as ``live, white, laboratory rats."

After the rats were released, ``a commotion ensued as customers attempted to get away from the rats," the police report states.

Antonellis fled and was chased by Christopher Scott, the manager, and Sean Fay, the valet.

About a half-mile away, at Commonwealth Avenue and Deerfield Street, Boston University police officers apprehended Antonellis. Back at The Capital Grille, ``restaurant personnel captured . . . the rats," the police report said.

``Christopher Scott recognized the suspect because the restaurant has been the subject of a labor dispute involving the electrical worker's union Local #103 for the past four months," the report states.

At the restaurant yesterday, Scott would only say, ``We're really glad this individual has been apprehended."

One patron, Amesbury resident Greg Jeffers, 32, said he did not believe a few rats would sully the restaurant's allure.

He took his wife to the restaurant on their wedding anniversary this year, he said.

``Service is good," Jeffers said yesterday. ``The food is great. It's a chain. They've got a good reputation. We love the place."

Bruce Andrews, 50, a union deliveryman who often delivers food to Newbury Street eateries, said that he had seen the inflatable rat outside the restaurant in the past and that it had not bothered him. But he was a bit taken aback by the release of live rats.

``There's a way to make a statement, but that's not the right one," he said.

Michael Levenson can be reached at mlevenson@globe.com.