2003 Helios strike

The **2003 Helios strike** was an industrial action taken by employees of Helios Aerospace at Happy Valley against both their company and the Mars-7 Alliance, due to decreased wages, safety concerns, and to ensure that the asteroid Goldilocks is mined in Martian orbit.

## History

### Rumblings

The atmosphere necessary for the strike began to take place in the aftermath of the Kronos disaster, where although two personnel were killed, only cosmonaut Grigory Kuznetsov is mentioned by name in media reports, while Helios worker Tom Parker is left as "other". Samantha Massey, who was on the crew of *Ranger* during the disaster, is also upset that the Mars-7 members at Happy Valley are wearing patches to honour Kuznetsov, forging her belief that her and her fellow co-workers do not matter. These misgivings come to a head when Soviet cosmonaut Svetlana Zakharova seriously injures Helios worker Vasily Galkin. Believing that commander Danielle Poole and XO Ed Baldwin are being too lenient in her punishment by simply confining her to quarters. Massey eventually confronts Poole about this treatment, which Poole deflects.

At the same time, due to the Kronos disaster and the suspension of the asteroid capture program, the bonuses that Helios workers had relied on, are no longer possible, leading to anger among the workers, including Miles Dale, who begins working with Ilya Breshov's smuggling ring in order to make the money he believed he was owed.

### Discovery of Goldilocks and unionization

After asteroid 2003LC, otherwise known as Goldilocks, is discovered, the asteroid capture program is restarted. Initially this is seen as a potential boon for the workers and Happy Valley, due to the asteroid's IridiumW content being worth over $20 trillion, necessitating an increase to the base and the bonuses that the workers had been promised. Unfortunately the cost of mining Goldilocks in Martian orbit is seen as too costly. Instead, the plan is changed to mine the asteroid in Earth's orbit, meaning that the workers will only receive a fraction of what they would have received. Massey calls a meeting, where she argues for the workers to organise and form a union. The union is formed and a strike announced after Ed Baldwin. who had been removed from his role as XO, reveals that their bonuses are scheduled to be cut from $20,000 to $5000, while also making it 10 times harder to receive them to begin with.

### Strike and tragedy

The workers go on strike, stopping all tasks across the base, only Palmer James, the new XO of the base, remains outside the strike. Meetings are held between the workers and the M-7 members, where the workers are promised retraining, although Massey dismisses it as empty promises. Danielle Poole argues that the fuel refining in the cryo plant needs to be restarted to ensure that *Ranger* has enough fuel for the capture of Goldilocks, but the workers stick to their demands, for Goldilocks to be mined in Martian orbit, increase pay, and to rectify their safety concerns.

On Earth, Roscosmos director Irina Morozova and NASA administrator Eli Hobson discuss how they will break the strike. Morozova puts forward a plan to have the M-7 engineers operate the fuel refining. Despite misgivings from Hobson over this plan, it goes ahead. Although after the workers hear of it, they place the base's supply of suits onto the Martian surface, leaving the engineers to utilize the grey water pipes to get to the cryo plant, where they discover that Maya Estime had removed the primary gas regulator to ensure that the plant could not be restarted. Unfortunately, ESA astronaut Nick Jennings bypasses it despite arguments from other engineers, leading to an explosion that kills Jennings and injures 4 others, including Palmer James. After a meeting between Hobson, Will Tyler and CIA representative Robert Burks, a security detail is formed from the M-7 members with military backgrounds. They begin to crack down on the striking workers, looking for evidence linked to the blast.

### Strike breaking

After the explosion and the security crackdown, the workers begin to argue amongst themselves, before Dev Ayesa, who had travelled to Happy Valley on an unrelated matter, interrupts their meeting. He lays down a line of sugar, and congratulates them on their resolve and their negotiation, although he tells them that the nations of Earth will not allow Goldilocks to be mined in Martian orbit, before revealing that M-7 has agreed to their safety demands, as well as offering a deal worth over $1 million to the first 100 workers who will cross the line. Massey and Baldwin, the leaders of the strike, argue against this, but Ayesa asks if an idea of togetherness is more important than the workers families and livelihoods. Despite the best efforts of Massey and Baldwin, the workers cross the line one by one, leaving only Massey, Baldwin, Gerardo Ortiz-Niño, Veronica Hunt, and Holly Edmondson to remain.

### Aftermath

M-7 cracks down on the workers after the strike, by shutting down the secret bar operated by Miles Dale, instituting security checks around the base, and sealing off the unoccupied lower levels in order to prevent further organisation.

The workers who remained within the union later join forces with Dev Ayesa to form a team that plots to ensure that Goldilocks is captured into Martian orbit, by hijacking the commands sent to *Ranger* during the Goldilocks capture mission.

## See also

* Happy Valley cryo center explosion
* Goldilocks capturing mission

## References

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 *For All Mankind* TV Series - Season 4, Episode 2: "Have A Nice Sol"
2. ↑ *For All Mankind* TV Series - Season 4, Episode 4: "House Divided"
3. ↑ *For All Mankind* TV Series - Season 4, Episode 3: "The Bear Hug"
4. ↑ *For All Mankind* TV Series - Season 4, Episode 5: "Goldilocks"
5. ↑ *For All Mankind* TV Series - Season 4, Episode 6: "Leningrad"
6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 *For All Mankind* TV Series - Season 4, Episode 7: "Crossing The Line"
7. ↑ *For All Mankind* TV Series - Season 4, Episode 8: "Legacy"