About

We're hosting a film screening of Baristas vs Billionaires, a bold new documentary exposing the grassroots labor movement led by young Starbucks baristas, to raise funds for the former workers of Baby's On Fire cafe! This film is poised to become a cultural flashpoint in the national conversation about labor rights, equity, and generational power shifts. It centers on the baristas at Starbucks’ Elmwood Avenue store in Buffalo, NY—the first to successfully unionize in December 2021—sparking a nationwide movement. Today, over 600 stores in 40 states and 12,000+ employees have joined Starbucks Workers United (SBWU), yet Starbucks has refused to reach a national contract agreement after nearly four years.

After the film, the workers will make a special announcement to the community! 

All proceeds from this screening go to the former workers of Baby's On Fire cafe. 

Background

As you probably already know, at the end of June, the workers of Baby's On Fire began organizing to unionize. They gave notice to the owners of Baby's On Fire, giving them time to voluntarily recognize the union before filing the petition for a union election with the NLRB. The owners were totally silent and ignored multiple attempts to communicate with the workers, a tendency they had been doing since they moved to Portugal, and the primary reason why the workers wanted to unionize to begin with. The workers only wanted better communication with the owners. Finally, after filing the petition with the NLRB, they heard back from the owners in the worst way possible: A shutdown notice sent in a group message, notifying them they had only 9 days left before the store would shutdown.

The owners have been radio silent, totally ignoring our community's calls for answers and dialogue. We launched an email campaign, asking for nothing more than a seat at the table. All we wanted was to talk, but still, we heard nothing from the owners.