The shadows cast in the Federation were examined by Deep Space Nine. In presenting its distinctly alien setting on the station, and in confronting the Federation's position through conflict and the harsh realities of post-war rebuilding, it challenged Star Trek to weather. Few stories nail how uplifting the Bar Association is.
The idealized vision of a united future by Star Trek did not need to tackle labor rights. After all, the Federation was a post-scarcity society, whether it was signing up for the military or running your own restaurant. Deep Space Nine's non-traditional setting allowed the franchise to tackle topics that wouldn't otherwise work through the lens of Star Trek.
TheBar Association slowly but surely radicalizes Rom to concepts that are not in line with Ferengi culture and its love of capitalism. The Ferengi realized that his brother was sick when he became sick on the job. The history of socialist worker movements can be traced back to figures like Sisko and Bashir, who were representatives of the Federation. Rom decided to step out of his brother's shadow after he was told that they could accept a wage cut or be fired.
It is a story about the relationship between Quark and his brother, and how he has neglected his brother so much. This brotherly conflict is related to the labor issues that Quark exploited his brother's love to create, especially after he tried to cast aside that relationship from his position of power. He was rejected by the most powerful leverage Rom has ever had over him: a self-actualized belief in his worth as a worker.
The power of that value never ceases asBrunt, a Ferengi Commerce Authority official, is brought in to violently bust the guild. For the first time in DS9, we get to see Rom stand up for himself and the role he was given on the station by his brother's exploitation, and how in finding that worth, he decided not to take the Ferengi stance of keeping that value to himself. The power of collective action became apparent when Federation officers like Sisko, Bashir, and O Brien refused to cross the picket line at the bar. No matter how hard things get, no matter how close he comes to losing his brother, Rom finds power in his solidarity in a way that is truly transformational for the character.
Brunt's brutal escalation, and how he even turns on Quark in the process, end with the dissolution of Rom's union. In exchange for shuttering the union, he agrees to all of the demands of Rom, including better wages, guaranteed paid sick leave, and less exploitative hours for the entire bar. It works for union drives, where contracts have to be negotiated time and time again, and one-off improvements don't suddenly end labor disputes. He quit his job at the bar to join the Bajoran engineering crew as a technician. His work on the union leads him closer to Leeta, setting the stage for their eventual romance. Rom begins to see himself as his own person, defined by things other than his brother.
After the Bar Association aired, Deep Space Nine and Star Trek never had the chance to show the work of labor movements as continuous, enduring acts of solidarity. One of Star Trek's most ardent ideals is that the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few, and that there is power in standing together to improve the lot of all.
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