Bar Association (Star Trek: Deep Space Nine)
"Bar Association" is the 88th episode of the science fiction television series Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, the sixteenth episode of the fourth season. It was directed by Star Trek: The Next Generation regular cast member LeVar Burton (who portrayed Chief Engineer Geordi La Forge in Star Trek: The Next Generation).
| "Bar Association" | |
|---|---|
| Star Trek: Deep Space Nine episode | |
| Episode no. | Season 4 Episode 16 |
| Directed by | LeVar Burton |
| Story by | Barbara J. Lee Jenifer A. Lee |
| Teleplay by | Robert Hewitt Wolfe Ira Steven Behr |
| Featured music | Jay Chattaway |
| Production code | 488 |
| Original air date | February 19, 1996 |
| Guest appearance(s) | |
| |
The employees of Quark's bar go on strike in protest of unfair treatment by management (Quark). Leeta, one of the "dabo girls" who operate Quark's gambling machines, makes her third appearance, played by actress Chase Masterson.
Plot
Rom collapses from an ear infection while working at Quark's. At the infirmary, Dr. Bashir is outraged that Quark refuses to give his employees sick leave and casually suggests that Rom form a union. When Rom returns to work, Quark announces that he is cutting the salaries of his employees to compensate for declining profits due to a month-long Bajoran festival. Angered at this mistreatment, Rom calls a secret meeting of Quark's employees and persuades them to start a union. Inspired by Chief O'Brien's tales of his union-leader ancestor Sean O'Brien, Rom makes up a list of demands — increased pay, shorter hours, paid sick leave — and when Quark laughs them off, Rom declares that the new union is now on strike.
Rom pays customers to stay out of Quark's, and the bar is practically deserted. After Lt. Cdr. Worf, O'Brien, and Bashir wind up in a brawl over a difference of opinion on the issue, Sisko talks to Quark himself; he threatens to collect Quark's back rent if the strike doesn't end soon. Quark offers Rom a bribe to stop the strike, but Rom, quoting Marx's Communist Manifesto ("Workers of the world, unite!"), refuses.
Liquidator Brunt, an agent of the Ferengi Commerce Authority, arrives and promises Quark he will put a stop to the strike by any means necessary. Brunt crashes a union meeting and threatens the Ferengi workers with monetary ruin and legal problems if they don't return to Quark's. However, Rom inspires his troops once again, and they rededicate themselves to the strike. Later Quark tries to talk Rom into giving up, worried about what the FCA will do to his brother, but Rom holds firm.
Brunt has his thugs beat up Quark as an example. In the infirmary, a wounded Quark offers to secretly honor the demands of the strikers as long as Rom disbands the union and pretends that Quark has won, to which Rom agrees. Once everyone returns to work at their new, higher salaries, Rom quits his job at the bar to work for the station as a junior repair technician, having realized that he does better outside Quark's authority. Rom promises to still be present at the bar—but now as a paying customer.
In a subplot, Worf is uncomfortable with the chaos of living on Deep Space Nine, and he moves his quarters to the USS Defiant.
References
- Star Trek: Deep Space Nine DVD set, volume 4, disc 4, selection 4
External links
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Wikiquote has quotations related to: Bar Association |
- Bar Association at Memory Alpha (a Star Trek wiki)