SUMMARY: A tragic accident occurs in one of the overcrowded loading docks on Babylon 5. A computer control error causes a Narn transport ship to crash against the dock, damaging the structure and killing a worker. The dead man's brother, dock chief Eduardo Delvientos, blames the death on obsolete equipment and the terrible working conditions imposed by the Earth Alliance Senate.
Neooma Connally, the union worker's representative, confronts Commander Sinclair. She demands better wages, equipment and work schedules.
Among the cargo destroyed in the accident is a G'Quan Eth, a rare flower being shipped to G'Kar. G'Kar is desperate to find another G'Quan Eth before the hour when sunlight strikes a sacred mountain on his homeworld and all devout Narns must perform a religious ritual with the flower. Unfortunately, the only other G'Quan Eth on Babylon 5 belongs to G'Kar's spiteful rival, Ambassador Mollari, who stole it from Narn to enjoy its powers as a drug.
Londo refuses to sell the flower, so G'Kar vengefully orders Na'Toth to steal a sacred statue from the Centauri cultural center. This spiteful battle continues until the moment for G'Kar's ritual passes. Finally Commander Sinclair convinces Londo to sell the flower. He also convinces G'Kar that because of the vast distance between Narn and Babylon 5, the sunlight that struck the sacred mountain won't arrive at the space station for several hours. Impressed by Sinclair's logic, G'Kar happily prepares for his ritual with the G'Quan Eth.
Reluctantly obeying the wishes of the Senate, Sinclair refuses to address the union's problems. Connally orders her workers to desert their shifts.
Dozens of cargo ships wait to be unloaded at the empty docks. The Senate immediately sends Orin Zento, a callous labor negotiator, to Babylon 5 to resolve the conflict.
When talks between Zento and Connally fail to satisfy the workers, Zento produces a special military order to force them back to work. The worker's riot, clashing with Babylon 5's security force, led by Garibaldi. Many people are injured before Sinclair, opposing Zento's tactics, takes command. Under the authority of the military order, Sinclair directs over a million credits from the station's military
budget for immediate wage increases and equipment repair. He also pardons the rebellious union workers.
Outraged by Sinclair's political betrayal, Zento returns to the Senate. He condemns Sinclair's actions and questions his loyalty to the Earth Alliance.
Though peace returns to Babylon 5, Sinclair realizes that he's possibly jeopardized his career by defying the powerful politicians on Earth.
BRASH REFLECTIONS: I liked this episode. It was serious in that it shows that just cause we're in space, oh, wait, I think I've already said this. Anyway, John Snyder always plays the twerp doesn't he?
P.S. Ms. Connaly is cute when she's angry :-)!
Brian, Ms Connaly is cute, full stop. 
This is a good episode, seeing things from the perspective of the guy on 'the shop floor'. The viewers constantly see the command staff, but you can see that on a community with a quarter of a million people that these 4 or 5 people at the top would seem almost unreachable.
Kudos to Sinclairs method of solving it. Sheridan would do much the same on a far smaller scale when it came to paying for rent on his room.
Interesting bit of trivia. JMS named the Rush Act (an act that the Senate can pass to empower the boss to end an illegal strike "By Any Means Necessary") was named after conservative radio host Rush Limbaugh.
Having watched this again recently, it's still a good episode. And with the Fireman's dispute over pay and conditions in the UK it's rather appropriate.
Orin Zento is so insincere it is unbelievable. He says that he sympathises with the dockers, but it's plain to see that he's lying.
It's only a pity that the guy that played Senator Hidoshi wasn't kept in the series, I enjoyed his part in V as well.
As Mollari and G’Kar bicker in C&C about the theft of Londo’s statue, G’Kar claims he has an alibi. Londo then says, “It was your attack dog, No’Tath,” instead of “Na’Toth” like he should have done.
Senator Hiyoshi tells Sinclair, “Orin Zento has powerful friends. By embarrassing him ...” At that point we hear the sound of something crashing in the background. Did someone on the camera crew drop something?
Nits
Why is a senator giving orders to Sinclair? Sinclair is Earth Force. I could sort of see a senator having authority over a certain aspect of the military like B5 like the president is the Commander in Chief; but his orders should still start at the top, not a mid-level officer like Sinclair.
This exact point was used in season 3, and was the reason why Sheridan was able to arrest the members of the Nightwatch.
Summing up Sheridan 'orders to Earthforce personal have to come through the chain of command, from the President through the joint chiefs of staff down to the officer the order is meant for. A Senator can't give Earthforce officers an order since they are not part of the chain of command'
Anti-nit; Sinclair's orders came from the President down through the joint chiefs of staff. The Senator is just passing those orders on. Possibly because this is a more political problem than a pure military, one it was felt Sinclair's orders would be better explained by a Senator than a General.