Union Bed Bug Outside Affinity HotelIt was only a matter of time before New Yorkers grew so accustomed to rats that the inflatable union rat -- festering nipples and all -- just wasn't menacing enough to draw attention to employers' misdeeds.

So now scorned union workers have upped the protesting ante by playing on New Yorkers' very real fear of another pest: bedbugs.

A 12-foot-tall bedbug (shudder, left) is currently outside of the Affinia Hotel in midtown Manhattan. A group of pissed-off painters deployed the inflatable insect to tsk-tsk Affinia and Capital Builders for not paying them union wages.

To help get their point across, they're also handing out fliers emblazoned with this headline: "Notice to the Public: Affinia Hotel -- Infested with Bedbugs."

That's just a wee bit misleading, so they clarified by adding that the bedbugs were merely "sucking the financial blood from its workers," not actually feeding off the flesh of hotel guests. So, you know, if you're staying at Affinia Hotel this week, no need to burn your clothes when you return home.

The whole flier in its fully bedbuggy glory, after the jump!