SCREENING OF “PARTNERS” (2025) SHARES INSIDE STORY OF THE STARBUCKS UNION FIGHT

When: 30 April, 20:00

Where: Yalla Collective Space & Cafe (Perikleous 16. Nicosia)

The IWW-CyROC, in partnership with Working Films, invite you to a free screening of Partners, the first outside the US.

The screening will run from 20:30 to 21:10, with English and Greek subtitles. It will be followed by a discussion about the issues hospitality workers are facing and the prospects and obstacles of organising. All café workers who come in brand uniform (T-Shirt, hat or apron) drink for free (2 drinks max).

The film shares the true story of how a small group of baristas announced their intention to form a labour union; and how Starbucks responds with an elaborate and illegal anti-union campaign. Featuring on-the-ground footage from workers and organisers, Partners takes us to the front lines of the historic union campaign that catalysed America’s Gen Z labour revival.

It only takes a single spark to start an inferno.

In 2020, a group of “Inside Organisers” in Buffalo, New York get jobs at Starbucks with the intention of starting a union. Baristas across Buffalo quickly join the cause. Starbucks catches on and immediately storms the market with over 100 specially trained corporate executives and managers from across the country. An elaborate anti-union campaign ensues; the federal government later finds it to be the most illegal attack on organising workers’ rights in modern US history.

Drawing from on-the-ground footage captured by workers and organisers, Partners takes us to the front lines of the labour campaign that inspired over 11,000 Starbucks workers across the country to organise.

Cyprus’ hospitality sector is much like the US. Most workers are marginalised and unorganised (do not belong in a trade union and are not covered by collective agreements). The specific and general laws covering the sector are not being enforced, and worker rights are constantly being violated. Recently, there were announcements that a collective agreement is being negotiated. However, without the participation of the workers themselves, who will be the ones responsible for enforcing it.

If the workers want a seat at the table, they must organise and fight for it. And as the story of the Starbucks Workers United proves, it only takes a single spark to start an inferno.