In November 2000, the members of the Pacific Northwest Newspaper Guild Local 82 went on strike against the Seattle Times and the Seattle Post-Intelligencer over issues concerning salaries and the use of a merit-based pay system. This cutout figure was constructed and painted by a striker in response to the Seattle Times hiring Vance International, a known union-busting company used in the 1995 Detroit strike to physically intimidate strikers on the line in front of various Seattle Times facilities. The Times' reasoning for hiring Vance International was that the strikers were likely to become violent during the strike, a fear that was unfounded from Day 1 of the strike until its end 49 days later.