Grace Carroll Rocky Mountain Labor School Gathers at NAU for Weeklong Labor School Featuring Screening of Partners
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Wednesday, July 15, 2026
Contact: Alina Cordoba, (480) 370-4511, acordoba@azaflcio.org
Grace Carroll Rocky Mountain Labor School Gathers at NAU for Weeklong Labor School Featuring Screening of Partners
Bringing together union members and labor activists to strengthen leadership, organizing skills, and worker power.
Flagstaff, AZ – Hundreds of union members and labor leaders from across the Rocky Mountain region are gathered at Northern Arizona University for the Grace Carroll Rocky Mountain Labor School (GCRMLS), a weeklong labor education program focused on educating and developing the next generation of union leaders, co-hosted by the Arizona AFL-CIO in partnership with Working Films, hosted a special screening of Partners, a documentary highlighting the historic Starbucks Workers United (SBWU) organizing campaign in Buffalo, New York.
The screening was followed by a special guest, Tom Bosserman, former SBWU Worker-Organizer at Starbucks #8740, who was a Starbucks barista before being terminated for his organizing efforts in Everett, Washington. He stated, “For years, Starbucks marketed its job offering to prospective baristas as an actual ‘career.’ But in recent years, the company leadership has abandoned that language and gone on record calling barista work a mere ‘stepping stone’ job or ‘part-time’ gig for high schoolers.” As a long-time employee, he went on to describe what he has witnessed over 20 years, referring to it as a “bait and switch.” He stated, “This isn’t pocket money for us. It is the work that puts food on the table and keeps a roof over the heads of many workers and families.”
The event had attendees examine how organizing, solidarity, and worker education continue to build a stronger, more resilient labor movement. During the film, guests were overwhelmingly clapping, laughing, and even booing Starbucks corporate behavior. All the guests there were left with a call to action to support SBWU workers. Jason Hudson, Government Affairs Director, IBEW Local 77 member and GCRMLS instructor who facilitated, stated, “It serves as a powerful reminder that organizing is about more than just forming unions. The story of SBWU resonates deeply and inspired both seasoned labor leaders and those just getting mobilized.”
Partners follows a group of Starbucks baristas who announce their intention to form a labor union and how Starbucks responds with an elaborate and illegal anti-union campaign. Featuring on-the-ground footage from workers and organizers, the film takes viewers inside the historic Starbucks Workers United organizing campaign, which helped catalyze America's Gen Z labor revival. In 2020, the campaign grew from a group of "inside organizers" to a nationwide movement that inspired more than 11,000 Starbucks workers across the country to organize.
Through labor education programs like Grace Carroll Rocky Mountain Labor School, union members gain the knowledge, skills, and tools needed to organize, advocate, and lead. By bringing together labor history, current organizing campaigns, and firsthand experiences from workers on the frontlines, GCRMLS continues to strengthen the labor movement.
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The Arizona AFL-CIO is an organization that works on behalf of more than 185,000 union members through over 200 local union affiliates. We represent the interests of working people at the state and local level.
Grace Carroll Rocky Mountain Labor School (GCRMLS) is a premier labor education program dedicated to developing informed, effective union leaders through education, leadership training, and skills development. Serving union members throughout the Rocky Mountain region.
Founded in 1999, Working Films is a national nonprofit organization based in North Carolina that leverages the power of documentary films to advance social justice and environmental protection.