Abstract
This chapter defends the claim that at least some essential service strikes will be morally permissible in lunar societies. I argue by analogy with essential service strikes in medicine. The duty to provide medical care is not borne exclusively by nurses and physicians but rather is borne by a wider healthcare community, which includes hospital administrators, insurance companies, etc. If it is permissible for hospital administrators and insurance companies to compete for their interests by making decisions which might negatively affect patient care, then nurses and physicians should have at least a limited right to bargain for their interests (and the interests of their patients), which should include, in extreme circumstances, a right to withhold their labor. Similarly, lunar essential service workers, such as low-level employees in the air production industry, ought to retain the right to strike . The duty to provide breathable air is borne by a large “air production” community that includes air production staff, administrators, and corporations, as well as regulators and the voting public. If other members of this community were to make decisions which resulted in especially egregious working conditions for air production staff, then these employees would have the right to strike to improve their working conditions.
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Notes
- 1.
It should be noted that Braithwaite’s point is presented as an objection to physician strikes—based on the potential for physicians to mis—classify essential care as non-essential care.
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For more discussion, especially concerning the purported special status of nurses and physicians, see MacDougall (2013).
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- 5.
I have intentionally omitted a further condition stipulating that the strike is only justifiable if it is successful. Strikers cannot plausibly predict the extent to which other members of the community will concede to their demands. Nonetheless if there are compelling reasons for believing that the strike will end in failure (because the demands could not possibly be met), then it would be much more difficult to justify the strike, as any harm caused during would not lead to improvements post-strike.
- 6.
Thanks to Kelly Smith for bringing these issues to my attention.
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- 8.
We might not be able to say the same concerning other positions in the air industry, for instance those tasked with monitoring or maintaining the air supply systems.
- 9.
Though of course the topic has been broached in science fiction, e.g., Robert Heinlein’s The Moon is a Harsh Mistress and Misfit; Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle’s Spirals, as well as Allen Steele's Rude Astronauts series. Also worth mentioning is the Babylon 5 episode “By Any Means Necessary” (Season 1, episode 12), in which the main plot concerns Commander Sinclair’s response to a dock workers’ strike. I thank Stephen Baxter for literature suggestions.
- 10.
Though it should be acknowledged that hazardous working conditions tend to be linked causally to service disruptions, so it might be that whenever the first condition holds the second holds (or is likely to hold) as well.
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Schwartz, J.S.J. (2016). Lunar Labor Relations. In: Cockell, C. (eds) Dissent, Revolution and Liberty Beyond Earth. Space and Society. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-29349-3_4
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