“They’ve got a better union than us”

[Quinn: Clochebusters World Champion]

A thought occurred to me whilst I was out walking and I’m going to present it here. I don’t present it as a head-canon or any sort of “there is evidence to support this thesis” … just a general “what if” / “it could have been”. Maybe even something that could have found it’s way into the books had Grant Naylor wanted to.

It is well within the keeping of Rimmer’s character to run for union rep, just for that extra bit of power and potential respect it would grant him. It wouldn’t be a stretch to believe the Lister types at that level wouldn’t want to run, they wouldn’t want all the paperwork and bureaucracy that goes along with it.

Rimmer could well have been union rep for the technicians, and be so inept at it that he is incapable of arguing that the service robots get the grunt work the techs have to do.

Hell it would also be within Rimmer’s character to respect the authority of the officer the union is ostensibly arguing against, hence why he is so bad as a union rep.

As I say, nothing in the show to back this up at all, just something that could have worked.

Topic

[Flap Jack]

Yeah, I could see that being good fodder for a pre-accident or alt-Series VIII story. Maybe Rimmer’s bungling even caused the most qualified technicians to leave, leading to the drive plate being damaged and Rimmer being the only one around to fix it.

[Jenuall]

I always place Rimmer as being from an upper middle class upbringing, or at least as having ideas towards that higher class of standing in society. For me he would see being in a union as beneath him and he would see that as the position of the working class Lister’s of the world, banding together to take more things away from people like him who are their betters.

[RunawayTrain]

I always place Rimmer as being from an upper middle class upbringing, or at least as having ideas towards that higher class of standing in society. For me he would see being in a union as beneath him and he would see that as the position of the working class Lister’s of the world, banding together to take more things away from people like him who are their betters.

Definitely potential for character development there – I agree he would have initially been that way. Is it possible he’d have come to empathise with those of a lower class? I don’t know.

I can certainly see him wanting the power as a union rep, I just don’t know if his motivations would have been what the union members would want!

[Quinn: Clochebusters World Champion]

Yeah his background doesn’t exactly scream union rep … but being in such low authority I could see him running for it just to get what little power it would give him.

[Jenuall]

I definitely think that Z shift lead book Rimmer would have potential for exploring something like becoming a union rep, even if it didn’t necessarily align with his views/upbringing. Like you say he would have been desperate for any little spark of power or authority it might have offered him.

Plus I imagine the role would have offered opportunities for being involved in meetings with more senior and important people which he would have jumped at the chance to do!

[Quinn: Clochebusters World Champion]

It’s interesting how in the Mechocracy commentary the guys refer to Rimmer being a union buster and I just wish I’d had this thought a little sooner so they could have discussed this idea in the episode.

Because there is a part of Rimmer’s character that, in the right circumstances, would want to break a union up … but equally I still stand that if he thought it’d give him any authority he’d take it.

[Hamish]

Rimmer is not ideologically consistent whodathunkit.

[Author]

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