(Reuters) – The strike at Starbucks in the United States will extend to more than 300 establishments and will affect 5,000 employees of the coffee chain, the baristas’ union Workers United said on Tuesday, the last day of a mobilization launched Friday and expected to end a few hours before Christmas Eve.
Starbucks Workers United, which represents employees at 525 cafes across the country, said more than 290 locations were “completely closed” and more than 300 cafes were on strike.
Starbucks said 98% of its cafes remained open and about 170 locations were closed Tuesday.
Negotiations between the group and the union are at an impasse due to unresolved issues regarding wages, staffing and hours.
Starbucks declined to comment on the potential impact of the strike on its operations, having previously said it would be “very limited.”
The company, which is headquartered in Seattle and has more than 10,000 cafes in the United States, says it is ready to continue negotiations and claims that Workers United ended the discussions prematurely.
Earlier this month, the union rejected an offer that included no immediate wage increase but guaranteed a 1.5 percent increase in coming years.
(Bipasha Dey, Shubham Kalia and Gursimran Kaur; Elena Smirnova, edited by Augustin Turpin)
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