Starbucks Dress Code Protest + Brad Pitt Inspires Free Burgers in New Zealand

HIGHLIGHTS:

• Over 1,000 Starbucks baristas strike over new dress code restrictions

• Union calls for collective bargaining on dress policy changes

• Starbucks defends the updated uniform rules as branding

• McDonald’s in New Zealand gives free burgers to anyone named Brad

• Promo inspired by Brad Pitt’s Easter visit to a local drive-thru

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Starbucks Workers Strike Over New Dress Code

More than 1,000 Starbucks baristas across 75 stores in the U.S. have walked off the job to protest a newly implemented dress code. Effective Monday, Starbucks now requires solid black shirts and khaki, black, or blue denim bottoms—narrowing a previously broader and more flexible dress policy. The company says this change enhances brand consistency and makes its signature green apron stand out. However, Starbucks Workers United argues the change should be negotiated through collective bargaining and accuses the company of ignoring baristas’ voices. Some employees, like shift supervisor Paige Summers, call the policy restrictive and out of touch with actual store needs. A particularly sore point: the company is reportedly still selling now-prohibited branded clothing to employees on its internal site.

Sources: Associated Press, Starbucks Workers United

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Brad Pitt Gets a Burger, Now All Kiwi Brads Can Too

In a surprising blend of celebrity and fast food, McDonald’s New Zealand is offering free Quarter Pounders to anyone named Brad. The promo was sparked by none other than Brad Pitt, who was spotted at a McDonald's drive-thru in Auckland on Easter Sunday. A fan captured the moment, and the viral clip led McDonald’s to launch the limited-time offer. All Brads needed to have the McDonald’s app by May 12, and the deal expires this Sunday—so if you’re a Brad in New Zealand, it’s burger time.

Source: McDonald’s New Zealand, viral TikTok footage

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Give us three minutes and we'll give you everything you
need to know for the day with Nina's What's Trending.

Speaker 2 (00:03):
Starbucks has got a little bit of a problem because
more than one thousand Starbucks baris does that. Seventy five
US stores have gone on strike since Sunday to protest
a new company dress code.

Speaker 3 (00:13):
With the dress code, the dress code.

Speaker 2 (00:15):
Is that they wear black shirts with khakis or jeans
with their green apron, because the whole point is so
that the green apron pops a little bit more allegedly
according to whoever decided that this was the rule.

Speaker 3 (00:27):
But the Barisas don't like it.

Speaker 2 (00:29):
They want to be able to wear whatever they want,
not whatever they want, but essentially like colored shirt if
they want to. Yeah, they don't believe that anything takes
away from the green apron. And plus the experience has
nothing to do with what they're wearing.

Speaker 4 (00:42):
It's not your call. Yeah, you have a job, you
have rules, you work for somebody. You don't get to decide.
It doesn't matter what you want. If you don't want
to do that, leave, Yeah, that's insane to me. That's
a weird thing to be striking over it to me,
to me as well. Starbucks said that they would give
two free black T shirts to each employee when they

(01:02):
announced the news.

Speaker 3 (01:03):
Oh and they're free too. Sometimes pay for your shirts.

Speaker 1 (01:06):
Yeah, yeah, some places you have to buy your own.
I used to work at a restaurant. We had a
uniform and you had to have crisp white shoes, that's
what it said in the manual. And you had to
buy your own white shoes. They didn't give you white shoes,
and you're a, yeah, you had to miss it. They
had to be If you had them not clean, you'd
had to go like they send you home, So you'd
be spending money on shoes all the time.

Speaker 2 (01:28):
While you're spending money on shoes, though, you don't have
to think about what you're going to put on your feet.

Speaker 3 (01:32):
You don't have to think about what you're going to
wear to work. You already know.

Speaker 2 (01:34):
I feel like sometimes these dress codes actually save you
a lot of time. They're letting you wear and you're
set by that. They think that the dress code should
be subject to collective bargaining. What does that mean they
decide together?

Speaker 1 (01:48):
Oh, buys don't get it, Like why, I don't know why.

Speaker 3 (01:52):
It took a big deal.

Speaker 2 (01:54):
I'm I'm not sure either. I mean, if there's like
to know what.

Speaker 1 (01:58):
No, I changed my mind. The only reason I ever
go to Starbucks isn't for the coffee. It's for the
originality of the shirts on the orasis.

Speaker 3 (02:06):
Yeah, that's why I go there. I don't even notice.

Speaker 2 (02:09):
I always notice the green apron and their smile, like
when they're nice and they talk to you like, I
love that.

Speaker 3 (02:14):
I really don't ever notice what you're wearing.

Speaker 1 (02:16):
If I were in the Starbucks, I would rather have
a uniform because I have known people that works at
Starbucks and their clothes smell like coffee all the time.
That's not even not fresh coffee either, it's stale coffee smell.
So you know, I wouldn't want my my clothes getting
that smell on them. At least you have your uniform
that stinks.

Speaker 3 (02:34):
That's a good point. Yeah, at lea see where your
uniform that sneaks to a working note? Yeah, yeahs.

Speaker 2 (02:40):
Not everybody's on strike though, because Starbucks is functioning well.

Speaker 4 (02:44):
It's only seventy five stores, because those are probably the
union stores, the stores that are unionized.

Speaker 3 (02:48):
They are.

Speaker 1 (02:50):
Yeah, so we should unionize.

Speaker 3 (02:53):
We should a good or bad there is a union.
I don't finally know what that means, but wool SAG.

Speaker 1 (02:58):
But not well, yeah, there is there is you union
that covers radio stuff. But I mean that we're not
in it. So we should just start our own union. Okay,
we should strike today.

Speaker 3 (03:07):
Oh okay, what are we striking on? Reason? Right? Yes? Yeah,
we don't have uniforms.

Speaker 1 (03:13):
Yeah we want Starbucks uniforms.

Speaker 3 (03:18):
I would love to have a uniform. Picking out clothes
every morning is the worst? Is this hard? Yeah?

Speaker 4 (03:23):
And when we try to fake people out on the internet,
you can tell because we have different outfits on That's
not good.

Speaker 3 (03:30):
Brad, Brad stories for you. I don't know what you're
talking about.

Speaker 2 (03:34):
So in New Zealand, Brad Pitt actually went to a
McDonald's and got a quarter powder on Easter Sunday.

Speaker 3 (03:41):
They were wearing uniforms.

Speaker 2 (03:42):
So now because of that, McDonald's wants to give Brad's
free quarter pounders. What why Because Brad brad Pitt did it,
So now they want to take care of all of
the Brads. So if you get to New Zealand, Brad,
you could get a free quarter pounder.

Speaker 3 (03:59):
Spread some.

Speaker 4 (04:01):
He's like, you would get thee thousand dollars quarter pounder.

Speaker 3 (04:05):
But this is a place where brads are honored. I'm
honored every day in my own brain. Okay, that's what's trending.