‘Whatever it takes’: Starbucks workers launch US strike and call for boycott
More than a thousand Starbucks workers have commenced a strike in more than 40 cities across the US on Thursday amid stagnant negotiations with the world’s largest coffee chain over a first union contract.On the company’s annual “red cup day”, hailing the start of the lucrative holiday season, Starbucks Workers United is launching an unfair labor practice (ULP) strike, with rallies planned in locations including New York City; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; Chicago, Illinois; Columbus, Ohio; and Anaheim, California.About 65 stores are initially affected.Organizers plan to expand the strike to more locations should executives hold firm – and want customers to steer clear of the chain as part of a campaign dubbed “no contract, no coffee”.Starbucks said it was “disappointed” that Workers United had voted to strike, rather than continue bargaining, but insisted the “vast majority” of stores would be unaffected by the action.
The company stands accused of “stonewalling” at the table by union officials.Since the first Starbucks store voted to unionize in 2021, more than 650 have followed, in the face of vehement opposition from the chain’s management.Contract negotiations broke down earlier this year, following the union’s rejection of Starbucks’ economic offer.Starbucks Workers United announced last week that workers had voted to authorize an open-ended ULP strike with 92% voting in favor.The union had spent months demanding that managers consider new proposals to improve staffing and pay, and resolve hundreds of unfair labor practice charges filed by the union against Starbucks throughout its organizing campaign.
“We have not been given meaningful proposals to finalize this contract since the announcement of the strike authorization vote,” Jasmine Leli, a Starbucks barista for three years and strike captain from Buffalo, New York, told the Guardian,“The baristas are prepared to do whatever it takes to get this finalized contract,”Striking baristas are asking that customers “do not buy at Starbucks while workers are on strike”, Leli added, to help “win the fair contract that we have spent many, many months negotiating with Starbucks”,“We’ve waited long enough,” said Leli,“We are so close to finishing this contract, and we need them to just finish it.
”The beginning of the strike coincides with Starbucks’ “red cup day”, a promotion in which customers receive a reusable red holiday cup with the purchase of a holiday drink,It is typically one of the company’s biggest sales days of the year,The chain is scrambling to turn around its US business and win back customers, after several years of sluggish sales,In September it announced plans to shut more than 100 cafes across North America and lay off about 900 corporate staff,“Union baristas mean business and are ready to do whatever it takes to win a fair contract and end Starbucks’ unfair labor practices,” said Michelle Eisen, a Starbucks Workers United spokesperson and veteran barista of 15 years.
“We want Starbucks to succeed, but turning the company around and bringing customers back begins with listening to and supporting the baristas who are responsible for the Starbucks experience.“If Starbucks keeps stonewalling, they should expect to see their business grind to a halt.The ball is in Starbucks’ court.”A spokesperson for Starbucks, Jaci Anderson, said: “We are disappointed that Workers United, who only represents around 4% of our partners, has voted to authorize a strike instead of returning to the bargaining table.When they’re ready to come back, we’re ready to talk.
”Any contract “needs to reflect the reality that Starbucks already offers the best job in retail, including more than $30 an hour on average in pay and benefits for hourly partners”, added Anderson.“The facts show people like working at Starbucks.Partner engagement is up, turnover is nearly half the industry average, and we get more than 1m million job applications a year.“Our customers can be assured that our partners will be ready to serve them at the vast majority of our more than 10,000 company operated coffeehouses and nearly 7,000 licensed locations throughout the holiday season, regardless of the union’s plans.”
Waymo announces that its robotaxis will drive freeways for the first time
Alphabet’s Waymo said on Wednesday that it would begin offering robotaxi rides that use freeways across San Francisco, Los Angeles and Phoenix, a first for the Google subsidiary as it steps up expansion amid global and domestic competition in the self-driving industry.Freeway rides will initially be available to early-access users, Waymo said. “When a freeway route is meaningfully faster, they can be matched with a freeway trip, providing quicker, smoother, and more efficient rides,” it said.Waymo, which already operates in parts of the San Francisco Bay Area, is also extending operations to San Jose, including Mineta San Jose international airport, the second airport in its service area after Phoenix Sky Harbor.The move comes as Tesla expands its robotaxi service with safety monitors and drivers, and Zoox – backed by Amazon – offers free robotaxi rides on and around the Las Vegas Strip
A tax roadmap for electric cars | Letters
Rachel Reeves’s proposal to introduce a pay-per-mile tax levy on electric vehicles is idiotic, especially suggesting that hybrid vehicles will have a reduced rate and still pay the usual road tax (Rachel Reeves considering pay-per-mile tax for electric vehicles in budget, 6 November). Furthermore, requiring drivers to predict their yearly mileage in advance and then pay or reclaim the difference for actual mileage depending on whether they have underestimated or overestimated it is too cumbersome. If the DVLA is to oversee the collection/repayment system, it will undoubtedly need to recruit more staff or outsource the arrangement, with all the attendant pitfalls that would entail.The fairest way for the taxation of all motorists is to abolish the road tax and introduce a road toll system, as used on the Dartford crossing and the M6 toll road. Automatic number plate recognition (ANPR) would need to be an essential feature
Tech companies and UK child safety agencies to test AI tools’ ability to create abuse images
Tech companies and child protection agencies will be given the power to test whether artificial intelligence tools can produce child abuse images under a new UK law.The announcement was made as a safety watchdog revealed that reports of AI-generated child sexual abuse material [CSAM] have more than doubled in the past year from 199 in 2024 to 426 in 2025.Under the change, the government will give designated AI companies and child safety organisations permission to examine AI models – the underlying technology for chatbots such as ChatGPT and image generators such as Google’s Veo 3 – and ensure they have safeguards to prevent them from creating images of child sexual abuse.Kanishka Narayan, the minister for AI and online safety, said the move was “ultimately about stopping abuse before it happens”, adding: “Experts, under strict conditions, can now spot the risk in AI models early.”The changes have been introduced because it is illegal to create and possess CSAM, meaning that AI developers and others cannot create such images as part of a testing regime
Matthew McConaughey and Michael Caine sign voice deal with AI company
Oscar-winning actors Matthew McConaughey and Michael Caine have both signed a deal with the AI audio company ElevenLabs.The New York-based company can now create AI-generated versions of their voices as part of a bid to solve a “key ethical challenge” in the artificial intelligence industry’s alliance with Hollywood.McConaughey, who has also invested in the company and collaborated with it since 2022, will now allow ElevenLabs to translate his newsletter, Lyrics of Livin’, into a Spanish-language audio version using his voice.In a statement, the Dallas Buyers Club actor said he was “impressed” by ElevenLabs and wanted the partnership to help him “reach and connect with even more people”.ElevenLabs is also launching the Iconic Voices Marketplace, which will allow brands to partner with the company and use officially licensed celebrity voices for AI-generated usage
John Tymukas obituary
My brother-in-law John Tymukas, who has died aged 73, was a structural engineer on many of London’s infrastructure projects from the 1990s onwards, including Canning Town station, Heathrow Terminal 5, Glaxo Smithkline HQ and Crossrail Bond Street.Born in Adelaide, South Australia, John was the son of Kostas, a Lithuanian refugee and engineer, and Kathleen (nee Donohoe), the daughter of Irish emigrants and a former clerk. He was the eldest of six siblings. John completed his education in Brisbane at Downlands school and the Queensland Institute of Technology, where he took a four-year engineering degree course and worked in Australia before heading in 1990 to London to work on contracts with engineering companies such as SKB and WSP.An avid traveller, he covered Europe extensively, making contact with Lithuanian and Irish family members and discovering family history unknown in Australia until he made the links
ChatGPT violated copyright law by ‘learning’ from song lyrics, German court rules
A court in Munich has ruled that OpenAI’s chatbot ChatGPT violated German copyright laws by using hits from top-selling musicians to train its language models in what creative industry advocates described as a landmark European ruling.The Munich regional court sided in favour of Germany’s music rights society GEMA, which said ChatGPT had harvested protected lyrics by popular artists to “learn” from them.The collecting society GEMA, which manages the rights of composers, lyricists and music publishers and has approximately 100,000 members, filed the case against OpenAI in November 2024.The lawsuit was seen as a key European test case in a campaign to stop AI scraping of creative output. OpenAI can appeal against the decision
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