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East Lansing-area Starbucks workers strike over stalled contract negotiations

Workers from the Lake Lansing Road and Stoddard Avenue Starbucks locations participated in a strike last Thursday in a bid to convince the corporation to begin bargaining for a contract in good faith.

Dunkin’ Donuts coffee cups in hand, the workers gathered outside of the store locations chanting, “Don’t cross the picket! Support workers today!” and ‘No contract, no coffee!’.

The location on Stoddard was closed for the day, while the Lake Lansing location remained open, with the strikers urging customers not to go inside.

The strike fell on Red Cup Day – Starbucks’ most profitable day of the year. The promotion attracts thousands of customers looking to receive free plastic, red cups with any purchase of a seasonal drink. One of the busiest days of the year is also one of the most hectic for Starbucks workers, who hope that the loss of profits from their strike will draw attention to their cause.

Both the Stoddard and Lake Lansing locations voted to unionize in June 2022 under the Workers United Labor Union. By striking, these locations are joining a nationwide protest of over 100 Starbucks franchises attempting to bargain with the corporation.

The workers had a list of 25 proposals that they were looking to discuss with the representatives. Issues include wage negotiations, dress code, seniority, job descriptions and disciplinary actions.

Accessible remote monitoring technology advances MSU Health Care

MSU Health Care partnered with a company to bring accessible remote monitoring devices to its patients. These devices measure and record a variety of health data and send it automatically.

Two main reasons drove the decision to partner with the company, called Higi Care Everyday, when coming into the conversation two years ago: accurate daily data and safety measures due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

When doctors see patients at the office for readings, that data often doesn’t reflect their overall health status.

The company offers three devices: a blood pressure cuff, a scale and a glucometer to measure various data including oxygen saturation, glucose, weight, temperature, blood pressure, sleep and more.

A 24/7 year-round clinically trained care management team also talks patients through the device setup process and supplies real-time responses to patients and reminders for measurements.

The devices given to patients automatically send data cellularly, a crucial step many patients miss.

Higi Care is one of the only companies that have an omnichannel platform with RPM and physical health kiosks, and care managers that can proactively give live recommendations to patients.

MSU unveils new learning space for Department of African American and African Studies

A ceremony was held to showcase the new 8,400-square-foot learning space for Michigan State University’s Department of African American and African Studies, or AAAS, last Thursday. The celebration included song, dance and a cleansing ritual.

The department will now find a home on the second floor of North Kedzie Hall. It will include wellness and social rooms, a dance studio and more.

Psychic medium Candice Pizzo attended the celebration to perform a cleansing ritual for the new space.

Pizzo joked that she originally was going to use smoke to cleanse the room but was told smoke wasn’t allowed in the new department.

Instead, she used bells to cleanse the department heads and pay respect to their ancestors.

College of Arts and Letters Dean Christopher Long said the department and learning space will serve as an “irresistible destination” for generations of students and staff.

The AAAS department and major allows students to explore a variety of topics, including Black gender and sexuality studies, Black feminism and Black culture.

Based on original reporting by Jaden Beard, Ashley Zhou and Miranda Dunlap.