Rat

Savage defines this opprobrious epithet, thus:—

“A compositor or pressman who executes work at less than the regular prices, or for less than the generality of the trade think it deserves, or for less than the Chapel decides it ought to be paid, or for less than others are paid for it, becomes what is termed a rat. The most miserable situation, perhaps, that a workmen can be placed in. He is hooted at and despised by the rest of the workman in every house where he may obtain employment; and this feeling towards him does not subside, for the opprobrious epithet accompanies him for life.”

Unfair workman are also styled “Gentlemen of the Long-tail Order;” and dead rats, kittens, &c., are sometimes laid about their frames to annoy them.