{"id":44894,"date":"2026-09-06T02:18:29","date_gmt":"2026-09-06T00:18:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/kaizen-blog.org\/?p=44894"},"modified":"2026-09-06T06:37:21","modified_gmt":"2026-09-06T04:37:21","slug":"06-september-2026-kurznachrichten","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kaizen-blog.org\/en\/06-september-2026-kurznachrichten\/","title":{"rendered":"September 6, 2026 \u2013 Short News"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Today in our news briefs: The Starbucks boycott and the fight for a $17 minimum wage, Saxony-Anhalt heads into the election with the AfD at 41 percent, record diesel and gas prices are putting Republicans under pressure ahead of the midterms, serious problems after Russian animal vaccines, and around 50 Pentagon employees have been put through polygraph tests over media leaks.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Starbucks Boycott Continues - Workers Demand a $17 Minimum Wage and Finally a Contract<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
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The boycott of Starbucks is continuing over Labor Day weekend. Workers are demanding at least $17 an hour, better staffing in stores and stronger workplace protections. Support is now coming from the AFL-CIO and the Chicago Teachers Union. Starbucks Workers United is saying it plainly: anyone spending money at Starbucks right now is supporting a company that violates labor rights instead of the baristas behind the counter every day. Since the first successful unionization of a store in Buffalo in 2021, the union has grown to around 12,000 members. Nearly 700 Starbucks stores are now unionized. In 2025 alone, the union won 125 elections and had an 82 percent win rate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At the same time, the political headwinds are getting stronger. The Trump-shaped National Labor Relations Board now has a Republican majority and is overturning decisions that had previously helped workers. In August, the board ruled in Starbucks' favor in a dispute over whether workers from unionized stores could pick up shifts at non-union stores. In July, a union election in Seattle was also thrown out because two mail-in ballots had been counted. Decisions from the Biden era are being rolled back as well. More than 600 cases involving possible labor law violations are still pending against Starbucks. That makes a binding contract even more urgent for the union before more cases disappear or are decided against it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The workers have already seen that pressure works. This summer, Starbucks pulled a silica-based powder from its lineup after baristas complained about coughing and sneezing. A doctor brought in by the union found no long-term health risk, but criticized Starbucks for not properly evaluating the product's possible effects on workers and customers before using it. The company initially defended the powder and later removed it anyway. For Starbucks Workers United, this was not a voluntary concession, but the result of collective pressure.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The boycott is therefore set to continue until there is a contract. That also includes walkouts like those during the \"Unicorn Frappuccino\" weekend in August, when workers were not supposed to take time off despite the limited-time drink being difficult to make. The striking workers' slogan was as short as it was clear: \"No contract, no coffee.\"<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Saxony-Anhalt Heads Into the Election - AfD at 41 Percent in Final Poll<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n