Hello world!

For my project, I’m interested in doing a documentary or something similar telling the story of how Philadelphia Starbucks baristas unionized. This is close to my heart for a few reasons. I spent a lot of my twenties as a barista and have seen firsthand how little protections are given to service workers. I spent my entire time working in the service industry wishing the working conditions were better. I also have participated in an attempt to unionize a workplace and am familiar with some of the challenges that go along with unionization efforts. On a macro level, alongside the barista organization efforts, we’ve seen The Great Resignation of 2022, where many workers quit their jobs in hopes of finding better work. Historically working conditions for service workers, especially workers with marginalized identities, have been very poor and they have not gotten the same benefits as workers who are able to unionize. Finally, I see a lot of apathy around solving the world’s problems-for some, they are just too large. I want to show people unionizing because if people can imagine themselves unionizing with their co-workers, I believe they will be more empowered to fight for their rights at work. Finally, since many of the Starbucks workers in the unionization effort are Gen Z and many will become labor leaders as they age, I think it’s important to show support for future generations activism efforts.

As of now, the project that is most similar to what I want to produce is Rebecca Sebring’s (2023) documentary “Navigating Inequality From The Sidelines.” Sebring interviewed five women who work in sports reporting about the sexism they’ve navigated within the workplace. Sebring does a good job contextualizing the history of sports reporting, which is important in understanding why sexism runs so rampant within sports reporting. Sebring also does a good job of exemplifying when female sports reporters experience sexism and racism when trying to cover their stories. An important aspect of my story I want to cover is challenges faced by workers attempting to organize if they have marginalized identities (e.g. racism, sexism, etc) and barriers to organization. Sebring also does a good job using archival footage to bolster her interviews, and I also plan on using archival footage to tell the Starbucks story.

I want to interview Starbucks labor organizers located in Philadelphia and possibly a labor historian or labor reporter to provide context to why mass service workers organizing is so monumental. I have begun making connections with members of the organizing committee in Philadelphia and am considering my options for who I may interview as an expert on labor.

Sebring, R. (Director). (2023). Navigating inequality from the sidelines: an MA project documentary [film]. Temple University.