This week, I read an article by scholar Gino Canella about the relationship between technology and Starbucks Workers United (SBWU) exploring the central questions: “how are SBWU organisers communicating unionisation with their co-workers and the public? And, how are social media influencing workers’ campaigns and organising practices?” (Canella, 2023, pp. 2). Canella describes the unionization process as “semi-autonomous,” with SBWU’s parent union, Workers United, an affiliate of Service Employees International Union (SEIU), providing organizers with “legal support and training materials” (Canella, 2023, pp. 3). One of the benefits of organizing in this way is that each unionization campaign can be tailored to the needs of the particular store with the scaffolding of a larger organization to help resolve administrative and legal issues that arise during the unionization process (Canella, 2023, pp. 4). Canella also argues that social media itself might not be the impetus to radicalize workers to join a labor union; rather, workers are radicalized based off of their “material conditions” and the industrialized nature of their work (Canella, 2023, pp. 5). Importantly, Canella also discusses that while social media plays a role in the quick mobilization of allies within social movements, the movements themselves ultimately succeed or fail based off the strength of the communities formed by in concert with unionization activities.
This article was interesting and gave me a lot to think about in regards to my own documentary. It made me think a lot about social media usage within social movements and the gulf between raising awareness of issues and the movement-building actually needed to solve issues. It made me curious how SBWU in Philly communicates and it made me interested in learning more about the SBWU connections that made the Philly organizing process possible. It also made me think about union history, especially when Canella quoted a worker saying that Starbucks made organizing “sexy” (Canella, 2023, pp. 11). What makes us care about certain union pushes over others? Kim Kelly writes about this in her book about union history-a group she worked with were miners and Kelly suggested that story may have gotten less traction because coal power is less popular now than it was in the past. I think there is a significant lack of union history knowledge and it makes different organizing efforts feel like they are in a vacuum instead of as a part of something interconnected. I’d be interested to know why SBWU thinks their current efforts have borne more fruit and I added questions around this to my list of questions.
I received very positive feedback about my initial media! Most critically, people generally felt that I was leading them through an environment. If I use any narration in my documentary, I want it to help lead the viewer through the environment. Professor Zaylea’s feedback, that the piece tackled challenging subject matter in a way that was conversational and inviting, is exactly how I want my documentary to feel. I want to welcome people in to think deeply about unionization.
Work Cited:
Canella, G. (2023). Networked unionism: Reframing the labour movement and Starbucks Workers United’s hybrid 0rganising practices. tripleC, 21(1), 1-17. https://doi.org/10.31269/triplec.v21i1.1358.