As the food service industry was pushed on to the frontlines of the Covid-19 pandemic in 2021, workers at Starbucks stores in the Buffalo region of New York went public to announce their union-organizing campaign.

Their efforts, and Starbucks’ responses, have culminated in one of the most expansive union-organizing campaigns – and one of the most aggressive union-busting campaigns – in modern US history.

In the new documentary film Baristas vs Billionaires, Starbucks workers in Buffalo recount their experiences with the billionaire Howard Schultz descending on the city to attempt to quell the unionization efforts.

Narrated by the actor Susan Sarandon, with Alec Baldwin serving as a contributing producer, the film was directed and written by Mark Mori, who received an Academy Award nomination in 1991 for the documentary Building Bombs and received an Emmy award for a 2001 documentary on the Kent State shootings.

“Even though the Starbucks workers’ fight for a living wage was so public, I had no idea of the twists and turns and heartbreak connected to their struggle,” said Sarandon.

In an interview with the Guardian, Mori said his former background as a steelworker and a union member with the United Steelworkers – and in political activism – had informed his decision to take on the project. He began reading about the union drive at Starbucks and spoke with a friend who would shoot the film for him.

“We just went out and started interviewing baristas,” Mori said. “To me, I looked at it as the beginning of a long upsurge in the labor movement. I looked at this as we were in the 1930s, the 21st-century version of that.”

Mori sees the Starbucks union-organizing drive as a counter to the drastic decline of the manufacturing industry in the US midwest in recent decades that has decimated the working class.

“I call it the revenge of the Rust belt. Many of these kids are the children or grandchildren of the steelworkers from Bethlehem Steel in Buffalo, the grain silos in Buffalo, all of these factories across the Rust belt that were shut down. Their parents and grandparents lost their pensions, lost their homes, and these kids don’t see any future,” said Mori.

“These young kids are so inspirational, and they’re showing one way to deal with what’s going on, and there are many other ways. But the real number one thing about this is these young people taking matters into their own hands and inspiring other people to stand up against these billionaires.”

He explained the Starbucks workers who led the union-organizing drive reminded him of Vietnam war activists in the 1960s and 70s.

“This is part of what some refer to as a wealth gap,” he added. “These kids can’t make enough money to pay off their student loans, to get married, to buy a house, to have children, They’re so brave and articulate in what they’re doing. I’m of an older generation, I was in the anti-Vietnam war movement. They reminded me very much of that.”

The film is currently only available via scheduled screenings, though a distribution deal is in the works.

The film comes as tensions between Starbucks and the union continue to escalate. Starbucks Workers United launched a boycott on 25 August against Starbucks over the company’s failure to reach a first contract with the union. More than 700 Starbucks stores have won union elections since 2021.

The union is pushing for a $17-an-hour minimum wage, improved staffing and scheduling, and workplace protections, and for Starbucks to resolve the unfair labor practice charges.

Administrative law judges and the National Labor Relations Board found Starbucks committed more than 500 labor law violations, and hundreds of unfair labor practice charges at the agency are still unresolved.

A spokesperson for Starbucks did not directly comment on the movie or the union’s boycott.

“Starbucks has competitive pay, industry-leading benefits, and meaningful opportunities to grow a career,” the spokesperson said in an email. “People love working at Starbucks which is why we have the lowest turnover in the industry and why more than 1 million people every year apply to wear the green apron. As we have always been, we’re committed to engaging in productive bargaining.”