In the sixteenth episode of the fourth season of\u00c2\u00a0Deep Space Nine<\/i>, Rom challenges Quark. Intrigued? Then it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s time for Mark to watch\u00c2\u00a0Star Trek<\/i>.<\/p>\n
This episode is downright adorable, and I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t mean that as a way to dismiss what Rom does here. I just love how\u00c2\u00a0sincere<\/i>\u00c2\u00a0it is. It is a very basic primer for why unions are needed, how to form one, how to make demands, how to strike, and what to expect from others. How will your employer react? How will patrons of that business react? How will random strangers deal with you? In turn, each of these aspects are addressed by \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Bar Association,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d so I think I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll use that as a rubric to discuss this episode.<\/p>\n
Why?<\/b><\/p>\n
I feel like the \u00e2\u20ac\u0153why\u00e2\u20ac\u009d of this story is perhaps the easiest to answer. For three and a half seasons, Quark has treated his brother and the other employees of his bar\u00c2\u00a0terribly<\/i>. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s no secret! Everyone knows it, and it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s largely been a running joke this entire time. We also knew that Quark would frequently exploit his employees if it meant that he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d make a higher profit. The events in the cold open are only a reminder of that behavior, and I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m sure this was not the first time that Quark denied someone time off to see the doctor SO THAT THEY WOULDN\u00e2\u20ac\u2122T DIE.<\/p>\n
This was an unsustainable arrangement, and Rom passing out on the job was the last straw.<\/p>\n
How?<\/b><\/p>\n
Yet even with such horrific experiences under his belt, Rom can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t fathom doing much of\u00c2\u00a0anything<\/i>\u00c2\u00a0to counter his brother\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s tyrannical rule. I found it hilarious that Julian\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s off-hand suggestion of forming a union is what inspired Rom, as well as O\u00e2\u20ac\u2122Brien\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s tale of his ancestor striking in Pennsylvania. Yet an inspiration isn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t enough because unions and strikes are more than just forbidden on the Ferengi homeworld. As far as I could tell, none of the Ferengi had ever\u00c2\u00a0seen<\/i>\u00c2\u00a0a union or a strike in their lives. The Ferengi Commerce Assocation has certainly seen to that. Mirroring real-life organizations, the FCA acts to instill fear in the lives of the workers, making them feel so intimidated and so terrified of losing their jobs that they never act on their grievances. That\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s why unions are so important and vital within a capitalist system: it allows them to have a\u00c2\u00a0collective<\/i>\u00c2\u00a0bargaining power for negotiations.<\/p>\n
It was a delight watching Rom turn into a little revolutionary through this. He has a knack for inspiring others! His speech to convince everyone to form a union is fantastic, and it also made me super excited to see how this would turn out.<\/p>\n
Demands \/ Strikes<\/b><\/p>\n
In the end, the demands that the workers asked for were incredibly reasonable. A raise. Less hellish hours. Time off for medical needs. Paid vacation. These things are the basic standards of decency that (most) societies value, and it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s the Ferengi culture that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s still in the past. Rom was firm in presenting his demands to Quark, and he didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t back down when Quark rudely dismissed them without a second thought. When Quark did this, Rom stayed committed: he then had the union strike. And there\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s no denying that this was an effective tactic! The immediate affect it had was that Quark was forced to use a badly-implemented holographic system to handle what little customers he had. (Which was even lower anyway because of the Bajoran cleansing ritual.)<\/p>\n
Quark was pissed and desperate. Most of the patrons of the bar, though, were supportive of the strike, and I wonder if this was because strikes and unions resonated with the Bajorans on the station. For the Starfleet officers, they might have been a reminder of a time in Earth history where strikes and unions were needed. I wasn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t surprised that Quark was willing to bribe Rom to stop the strike, though. There was something innately familiar to me. Of course Quark wouldn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t dream of giving that money to\u00c2\u00a0all<\/i>\u00c2\u00a0of the strikers; a quiet bribe in private quarters is more his speed.<\/p>\n
However, I was most intrigued by how the FCA would react to this, particularly since we knew how brutal Brunt was. In the FCA, there are plenty of real-world examples I could give \u00e2\u20ac\u201c governments, business, lobbyists, the list goes on \u00e2\u20ac\u201c that parallel what Brunt threatens these people with. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s important to note that just asking to be treated better threatens the FCA so much that they threaten to\u00c2\u00a0decimate these people<\/i>\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s lives<\/i>. Strip them of wealth, punish their families, degrade them\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s such a horrifying reaction, isn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t it? YET THIS IS BARELY, BARELY FICTION. Beating up Quark??? THIS ISN\u00e2\u20ac\u2122T NEW.<\/p>\n
So I was surprised that Rom got what he wanted after Brunt threatened them. Gods, it is such a cool message for the show! Quark found a way to placate the FCA while giving the workers what they wanted. And in the end?<\/p>\n
ROM QUITS.<\/p>\n
ROM.<\/p>\n
QUITS.<\/p>\n
HE DOESN\u00e2\u20ac\u2122T WORK FOR QUARK ANYMORE.<\/p>\n
HE HAS HIS OWN JOB.<\/p>\n
HE IS INDEPENDENT.<\/p>\n
THIS THRILLS ME SO MUCH, OH MY GOD!!!<\/p>\n
The video for \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Bar Association\u00e2\u20ac\u009d can be downloaded\u00c2\u00a0here for $0.99<\/a>.<\/p>\n Mark Links Stuff<\/b><\/p>\n – I am now on Patreon<\/a>! There are various levels of support, from $1 up to whatever you want! You’ll get to read a private blog, extra reviews, and other such rewards.<\/b> In the sixteenth episode of the fourth season of\u00c2\u00a0Deep Space Nine, Rom challenges Quark. Intrigued? Then it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s time for Mark to watch\u00c2\u00a0Star Trek.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[640,614],"tags":[615],"class_list":["post-5684","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-deep-space-nine","category-star-trek","tag-mark-watches-star-trek"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/markwatches.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5684","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/markwatches.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/markwatches.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/markwatches.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/markwatches.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5684"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/markwatches.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5684\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/markwatches.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5684"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/markwatches.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5684"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/markwatches.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5684"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\n– I\u00c2\u00a0will be at numerous conventions in 2016! Check the full list of events on my Tour Dates \/ Appearances page.<\/a>
\n– My Master Schedule<\/a> is updated for the near and distant future for most projects, so please check it often.\u00c2\u00a0My next Double Features for Mark Watches have been announced here.<\/a>
\n<\/b>-\u00c2\u00a0Mark Does Stuff is on Facebook!<\/a>\u00c2\u00a0I’ve got a community page up that I’m running. Guaranteed shenanigans!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"