The strike over wages and personnel issues comes at one of the busiest times of the year for the coffee chain.
A strike at Starbucks has spread to more than 300 of the coffee chain’s stores across the United States, with more than 5,000 workers expected to walk off the job, the union said.
The five day strike ends later Tuesday and comes in the middle of the Christmas holiday, one of the busiest times of the year for Starbucks.
Starbucks Workers Unitedwhich represents employees at 525 stores across the country, said more than 60 U.S. stores in 12 major cities, including New York, Los Angeles, Boston and Seattle, were closed Monday.
Talks between Starbucks and the union reached an impasse over unresolved issues over wages, staffing and rostering, leading to the strike that began Friday.
With a union contract, improved benefits, wages and working conditions could be written down and could not be cut without negotiations, Workers United’s website says.
Tuesday’s Christmas Eve strike is expected to be the largest ever at the coffee chain, the union added. “These strikes are a first step, and we are just getting started,” an Oregon barista said in a union statement.
Starbucks, which operates more than 10,000 of its own stores in the U.S., said 98 percent of its stores remained open, with about 170 stores closed Tuesday.
The company said Monday it expects “very limited impact” on overall operations.
“We stand ready to continue negotiations when the union returns to the bargaining table,” the company said.
The Seattle-headquartered company previously claimed that union delegates ended the round of negotiations early.
Earlier this month, the labor group rejected an offer of no immediate wage increases and a guarantee of a 1.5 percent wage increase in the coming years.
The union also said Starbucks had yet to present “a serious economic proposal” to its workers.
