A strike over wages and staffing issues comes at one of the coffee chain's busiest times of the year.
A strike at Starbucks has spread to more than 300 of the coffee chain's stores in the United States, with more than 5,000 workers expected to walk off the job, the workers' union said.
The five day strike it ends later on Tuesday, and has come amid the Christmas holiday, one of the busiest times of the year for Starbucks.
Starbucks Workers Unitedrepresenting workers at 525 stores nationwide, that more than 60 US stores across 12 major cities, including New York, Los Angeles, Boston and Seattle, were closed on Monday.
Talks between Starbucks and the union had stalled over unresolved issues over wages, staffing and schedules, leading to the strike that began Friday.
With a union contract, improved benefits, wages, and working conditions may be in writing and cannot be reduced without negotiation, according to the Workers United website.
Tuesday's Christmas Eve strike was expected to be the largest ever at the coffee chain, the union said. “These strikes are a first show of strength, and we're just getting started,” an Oregon barista said in a union statement.
The union said more than 290 stores were “completely closed” as a result of the strike.
Starbucks, which operates more than 10,000 company-operated stores across the U.S., said 98 percent of its stores remained open, and said only about 170 stores closed Tuesday.
The company had said on Monday that it expected a “very small impact” on overall operations.
“We are ready to continue the negotiations when the union comes back to the bargaining table,” the company said.
The Seattle-headquartered company previously said union representatives ended the bargaining session prematurely.
Earlier this month, the union rejected an offer of no immediate pay rise and a promise of a 1.5 percent pay rise in future years.
The union also said that Starbucks has yet to make a “real economic proposal” to its workers.
